What Witch? This Alchemist is Breaking Bad!

Hearing Leon say this, Weiss smiled somewhat embarrassedly. “It is only an ordinary public sermon for the masses. There isn’t really anything particularly interesting in it. Only near the end will we announce some of the Church’s latest academic developments.

You joined the Church of the Prophet, didn’t you? Normally, you should attend the Church of the Prophet’s speech. The sermons of the Four Great Churches are held simultaneously.”

“Does the Church of the Prophet also have a Saintess?” Leon asked casually.

“You still haven’t looked into it? The one giving the public sermon for the Church of the Prophet this time is the Son of the Church Levin Stuart, the son of Cardinal Stuart,” Weiss said.

“Is it necessary to attend the speech of one’s own Church?” Leon asked.

Weiss shook her head. “The sermon is merely a ceremonial segment of the Holy Spirit Festival. It is mainly intended for the ordinary believers who come to the Major Diocese on pilgrimage. Except for those who are required to work at the venue, the fully appointed Church personnel attending are free to participate as they wish. But most people still choose to attend the speech of their own Church.”

“Then I’ll choose yours. I feel like your speech will definitely be more interesting,” Leon immediately decided. “The Churches don’t oppose exchanges between each other, right?”

The Sons of the Church and Saintesses of the Four Great Churches were all image representatives selected from among the young bishops of their respective Churches—individuals who were exceptionally outstanding both in ability and appearance. For Leon, watching handsome men certainly could not compare to watching beautiful women.

Moreover, he already had a bit of acquaintance with Weiss, so showing up to support her was only proper.

“Actually, I still feel it’s a pity you didn’t join the Creator Church. If you continued researching Atomic Theory, you would certainly receive more support with us,” Weiss sighed softly.

“At the time, I had already promised Archbishop Miller first. What’s done is done—there was no helping it.” Leon smiled awkwardly.

“The Church of the Prophet’s investment in academia is not any less than ours. It’s just that when it comes to researching the origin of the world, we focus more on microscopic matter, while they prefer studying history and theories of time and space,” Weiss said.

“Well, after all, the authority of the Supreme God is time,” Leon said.

“Now that I think about it, I never asked you before—what blessing did you receive?” Weiss asked.

“It’s a blessing that accelerates my own time. It only lasts for a few seconds. It doesn’t feel very practical,” Leon replied.

“How could it be impractical? This ability has great research value. It’s also very helpful for certain observational experiments. Many experimental phenomena occur only in fleeting moments—using this ability, you could observe many details,” Weiss said seriously.

“Bishop Weiss, regarding the Church’s blessings, may I ask you a few questions?” Leon brought it up as the conversation naturally arrived at the topic.

“Please do.”

“I once heard that blessings also have different ranks, and that they can be upgraded through certain methods,” Leon said.

“That is indeed the case. The power of a blessing can advance in rank. After undergoing one advancement, both the foundational blessing and the Divine Arts obtained from it will experience a leap in power,” Weiss answered.

“Yes, Archbishop Miller also explained that to me. But when I asked about the method of advancement, he responded rather vaguely. I’d like to ask—within the Church, is this considered confidential?” Leon said.

As a transmigrator who had obtained supernatural power, he naturally considered possible ways to upgrade it.

He had already personally verified that a Witch’s blessing could be upgraded. If the time when he had first obtained Cursed Blood and could only kill someone by cursing them with blood was considered the first stage, then gaining the ability to transform into a Werewolf—while Cursed Blood also evolved into a living entity that could move and parasitize by his will—would be the upgraded second stage.

Then the Church’s blessings should logically also have a concept of advancement. From the materials he had consulted, the powers displayed by Saints, Popes, and Cardinals within the Church were clearly far greater than those of ordinary Blessing Recipients.

Saint Astarte possessed the miracle of foreseeing the future through divination, while that Cardinal Stuart who served as Grand Inquisitor possessed the Miracle of Omniscience. This was obviously far more powerful than merely speeding up one’s own time for a few seconds.

But when Leon had first obtained his blessing and asked Archbishop Miller whether blessings could be improved, Archbishop Miller had seemed to brush the question aside. Leon had once suspected the matter was confidential and had therefore not pursued the topic further.

Moreover, materials and academic papers related to blessings were not fully open within the Church. At that time, Leon had only just obtained his fully appointed qualification and did not yet have permission to consult relevant materials within the Major Diocese.

Now that the topic had come up while chatting with Weiss, he asked casually.

“Confidential? Not really. May I ask what he said at the time?” Weiss asked.

“He told me that the divine will of the Prophet who knows the past and future is unpredictable. At present, there is no definite method to determine how to make the Supreme God willing to share more power with His Acting Agents. If you are interested, you could also join this research in the future.” Leon repeated the original words exactly, even reproducing the tone vividly.

With the blessing of the Prophet, the scene of Archbishop Miller speaking at that time replayed effortlessly in his mind, making the recitation naturally easy.

“You may have misunderstood. In fact, the blessings of the Supreme God are indeed the most mysterious and unique among the Four Gods.

The blessings of the other three gods can all be refined through cultivation, allowing one to improve their blessing abilities. Once you become proficient in your ability and gain a deeper understanding of it, the power of the blessing will grow significantly.

Different cultivation methods can greatly accelerate this progress. For example, the blessing of the God of War can be strengthened through real combat to enhance one’s courage. The key to cultivating the blessing of the Secret God lies in improving one’s mental concentration. As for Blessing Recipients of the Creator, they can conduct additional research to deepen their understanding of how their abilities interfere with matter—

When this growth reaches a bottleneck, performing another Bestowal Ceremony will allow one to obtain a stage advancement. Generally speaking, Knight Commanders and Archbishops are Second-Rank Transcendents, while Cardinals range from Second Rank to Third Rank,” Weiss explained.

“Is your blessing the same?” Leon asked.

“Yes. The Creator’s blessing is the manipulation of matter. The blessing I received is the power of ice—it can lower the temperature of objects.” As Weiss spoke, she extended her hand and tapped Leon’s cup. A layer of crystalline mist immediately formed over the glass.

Leon reached out and touched it. The cup was as cold as if it had just been taken out of a refrigerator.

This world did not yet have refrigerators or refrigeration technology. Using this ability to make cold drinks would actually be quite convenient.

“Through practice and research, this ability of mine can grow. At first, I could only freeze a basin of water. Later, I could create a layer of ice on a river that could support people walking on it. Then, after receiving another blessing, one can reach the Second Rank,” Weiss said.

“Are you currently Second Rank?” Leon asked tentatively.

“Yes. I have undergone the ritual and am now a Second-Rank Transcendent. When the Creator’s foundational blessing reaches Second Rank, it allows one to control the transformation between the three states of matter—solid, liquid, and gas—without changing the temperature. Like this.”

Weiss gently swirled the remaining wine in the cup. The liquid suddenly evaporated into gas in an instant. Then, with another shake, it returned to its liquid state again.

“From what you’re saying, the Supreme God’s blessing is different?” Leon asked.

“Yes. The blessing of the Supreme God is different from those of the other three gods—it cannot be improved through cultivation. You should have experienced this yourself,” Weiss said.

Leon nodded. Time Acceleration was not an ability that could be improved through practice. First of all, it placed an enormous burden on the body—ordinary people simply could not train it.

Even though he had broken through that limitation through his Werewolf transformation ability, it only meant his body could endure more strain, not that the ability itself had improved.

Even after using his Werewolf form to conduct several more attempts and training sessions, neither the maximum speed nor the duration had increased significantly.

“In fact, not only Time Acceleration—Divine Arts such as Time Expansion and Returning to the Past also cannot be improved through practice. The academic community still has no unified explanation for how to upgrade the blessing of the Supreme God,” Weiss said.

“But someone must have succeeded in upgrading it before, right? The Church of the Prophet has even produced Saints,” Leon said.

“Indeed, Blessing Recipients of the Church of the Prophet occasionally experience sudden rank advancements. However, the mechanism behind it remains unclear. According to earlier explanations, it was called Divine Revelation,” Weiss said.

“Divine Revelation?” Leon felt the explanation sounded rather mystical. “Could it be random?”

Did the Supreme God occasionally open His eyes to look at the world and simply upgrade whoever pleased Him?

“It isn’t random. Those who obtained advancement—how should I put it? They weren’t without special qualities. More or less, each of them had accomplished something significant in some form before suddenly receiving Divine Revelation,” Weiss said.

“Accomplished something?” Leon asked instinctively.

“Completing an invention, leading a reform, achieving merit in war—in most recorded cases, they received Divine Revelation after accomplishing a major feat recorded in history. There are even rumors that a century ago, a knight from the Church of the Prophet who defected assassinated an important figure within the Church and then suddenly received Divine Revelation. But matters like that would certainly become confidential even if they were true, so there is no way to verify them,” Weiss said in a purely academic tone. “Currently, the explanation most widely accepted within the Church is that the key to upgrading the blessing of the Supreme God lies in influencing history.”

“So if one’s name is written into history, the power of the blessing will increase? In that case, people in high positions seem to have more opportunities,” Leon said.

After all, the emperor’s name was always more likely to remain in historical records and to accomplish events that influenced history.

“This theory does not refer simply to influencing historical events. Rather, at a certain critical juncture, one must cause the development of the world’s history along the timeline to shift in a certain direction according to one’s own will. Only if that succeeds can the blessing advance in rank. Of course, this is only a hypothesis—it has never been verified. Without a perspective beyond time that can observe the past and the future simultaneously, it would be very difficult to prove,” Weiss said.