Masked Knight

That name was the same as one of the G.o.ds of legends who gave the gift of fire to man.

In reality, that Chief Elder of the Roland Temple also had some colorful legendary exploits.

Prometheus was born in a n.o.ble family. However, he could not receive the family’s recognition since he was an illegitimate child! He grew up in the Temple from a young age. As he was poor, he entered the monastery at the age of seven. He became a small monk in the Temple of Sauron Kingdom.

Then, Prometheus immediately displayed talents which were different from normal people.

After two years of cultivation, the nine-year-old Prometheus was chosen in an annual selection to become a member of the pract.i.tioners in the Temple.

What was worth mentioning was that after a period of time, Prometheus trained as a warrior. He then became the disciple of a retired Paladin who took a fancy to him.

At the age of fourteen, Prometheus became a member of the Holy Knights, the strongest army of the Temple. At that time, there was an armed rebellion at the Gordon Kingdom of the Roland Continent. The reason for that rebellion was because the late King did not appoint his next heir. His three sons then started an endless civil war.

In order to maintain the peace, the Holy Knights were ordered to quell the civil unrest in the Gordon Kingdom.

The fifteen-year-old Prometheus took part in the war and was awarded an honorary medal because of his outstanding performance. After that war, he performed well again in a surprise attack and killed one of the King’s three sons who had rebelled against the Temple.

Because of that meritorious service, he was promoted to the Captain of the Holy Knights Regiment. He was only sixteen years old when he became a Grade 3 Knight in the Holy Knights.

At that time, he was also the youngest amongst the Grade 3 Knights of the Holy Knights.

After that, things developed completely differently.

Had things proceeded normally, the genius, Prometheus, would have continued to receive the old Paladin’s teachings. His future would be limitless. Even the others believed that the young Prometheus was likely to become another Paladin.

However, Prometheus decided to withdraw from the Holy Knights. He gave up his ident.i.ty as a knight to become a religious pract.i.tioner.

Two years later, Gordon Kingdom experienced a drought. They did not get even a single drop of rain for ten consecutive months.

But then, Prometheus did something ridiculous. From the Temple, he set out alone for the Gordon Kingdom. He kowtowed once every ten steps all along the way, piously praying to G.o.d. The journey was undoubtedly very long.

At that time, everybody laughed at the seventeen-year-old Prometheus, thinking that he was crazy. Even the Elders of the Temple and the other important people were at a loss. They believed that Prometheus was too naïve and innocent to think that he would be able to move the heavens despite only being a young and insignificant pract.i.tioner.

Praying all the way from the Temple was very difficult. In the beginning, everybody could see the young man covered with dust and carrying a heavy bag as he journeyed towards the Gordon Kingdom. He kowtowed once every ten steps and had fainted many times at the roadside.

With the pa.s.sage of time, people gradually stopped laughing at him. After all, even though it was a crazy move, it was worthy of respect.

The slow prayer journey lasted for two months before he reached the Gordon Kingdom"s capital.

In those two months, Prometheus had won the hearts of countless people and was admired by many.

An even more amazing thing happened. After traveling for thousands of miles, the moment he reached the Gordon Kingdom"s capital, black clouds immediately appeared over the original hot sky and a downpour started.

Since then, the name "Prometheus" spread throughout the entire Roland Continent. The people even called him the ‘G.o.d’s Chosen One’.

When he was twenty-four years old, the Teuton Kingdom was faced with a plague. As a pract.i.tioner, Prometheus followed the people of the Temple to the Teuton Kingdom. During the plague, countless priests and pastors died from illnesses. At that time, Prometheus used too much of his sorceror"s magical power to heal the people. As a result, he caused great harm to his own body. His right eye was permanently blinded.

After going through that experience, the Teuton Kingdom gave him a legendary nickname, the ‘One-Eyed Saint’.

Later that same year, Prometheus was chosen by one of the Elders of the Temple to be his disciple.

During a conference, conducted once every ten years, attention was once again focused on Prometheus when he was able to identify that a hundred-year-old Temple script was a fake. After the conference, Prometheus, at the age of thirty-four, was appointed by his teacher, the Chief Elder, to be his successor!

After waiting for a decade, Prometheus became an Elder of the Temple at the age of forty-four. He was also the youngest Elder in the history of the Temple.

From whichever perspective you looked at it, his personal experiences were full of exalted achievements.

Prometheus himself had personally accomplished them to the extreme.

After he withdrew from the Holy Knights and became a pract.i.tioner, he spent almost all of his time cultivating. He shut himself away for eleven months out of every twelve months, just to cultivate. n.o.body knew how far he had progressed in his cultivation.

"Wait…" Right then, Rody frowned and interrupted Mouse, "Are you saying that he is possibly a sorcerer who is more powerful than you?"

Mouse shook her head and replied, "No, this is not what I mean. The cultivation of the Temple is not just sorcery practice. The cultivation of a pract.i.tioner can be the study of theology, the study of life, G.o.d and even study of your minds."

"What happened after that?"

Mouse sighed and continued, "After that…

"No matter from which point of view, Prometheus was seen as the Temple’s most hardworking pract.i.tioner. He continued to be like that even after he became an Elder.

"That young and solemn Elder was barely seen on normal days. He only appeared during major events of the Temple.

"However, after that, Prometheus began to accept disciples. He accepted a total of three disciples and they all achieved great success!

"All his three disciples had chosen to cultivate along the path of sorcerers. They received high evaluations and finally, all three of his disciples became Saints, which they well deserved. They were then dispatched to the various kingdoms on the Roland Continent to administer the authority of the religion."

Mouse suddenly smiled and said, "When I was young, I wors.h.i.+pped Prometheus like an idol. At that time, my only desire was to be accepted as his disciple. Unfortunately, he later announced that he was no longer accepting disciples. I was totally devastated."

"No longer accepting disciples?" Rody frowned. "Why?"

Mouse sighed and said, "It was said that he wanted to devote himself to researching theology and was afraid that teaching others would distract him. After cultivating for a long time behind closed doors, he wrote a book . After going through the appraisal process by the Elders, the book was then added into the Temple’s teachings. It is the only book included into the religious teachings in the past two hundred years!"

Rody could not help but sigh as he said, "In other words, this person is really formidable! It is as if he knows everything. He is a knight, a pract.i.tioner, a philosopher and also a great teacher!"

Mouse hesitated for a moment and then added, "He is also a politician!"

"A politician?"

"Yes." Mouse sighed and then her tone became serious again.

"At that time, the Temple was divided into two factions. One of the factions was the ‘Hard Cultivation’ faction. Advocates control their human desires to wholeheartedly and selflessly cultivate. Prometheus was the representative of that faction.

"The other faction was the ‘Cloud’ faction. The standpoint of that faction was that people living in this world should go with the flow. A person’s life and fate have already been arranged by G.o.d. There is no need to deliberately do anything. They just needed to do things as arranged by fate and it would be according to G.o.d’s will.

"During a debate in the General Conference, which is held once every ten years, Prometheus made the representative of the ‘Cloud’ faction speechless with his reb.u.t.tal. The ‘Cloud’ faction was then defeated that year."

"This doesn’t seem like anything. It was a victory in just one debate." Rody frowned.

Mouse gave a faint smile and replied, "Perhaps there was nothing. However, the Elder representative of the ‘Cloud’ faction committed suicide behind closed doors because of the shame of being defeated in the debate. It was only because his decomposed body emitted a stench that his corpse was found…"

"Suicide?" Rody sneered. "Did he really commit suicide?"

Mouse nodded. "I understand what you mean, but it was really suicide! Prometheus was completely unrelated to this matter. The Temple had investigated that incident for a long time. Besides that, Prometheus continued to cultivate in his room after the debate. He did not step out of the door at all."

"What happened after that?"

Mouse wryly smiled. "What happened after is worth thinking about. As the Elder of the ‘Cloud’ faction was dead, a Saint was immediately chosen to replace him as Elder. Who do you think was chosen?"

Rody’s eyes lit up as he replied, "Was it one of Prometheus’ disciples?"

Mouse sighed. "Yes, it was one of his disciples!"

Rody frowned. "Did the people from the ‘Cloud’ faction agree to let one of Prometheus’ disciples become their Elder?"

Mouse replied, "Of course! That was because that Prometheus’ disciple was unexpectedly a believer of the ‘Cloud’ faction! Many years ago, he was already a disciple of the ‘Cloud’ faction! In addition, Prometheus proposed that to let his disciple become the Elder of the ‘Cloud’ faction and in exchange fill the position vacated by that disciple with a Saint from the ‘Cloud’ faction. The people from the ‘Cloud’ faction would naturally agree to such conditions."

Rody was so surprised that his mouth hung open. After some time, he gave a long sigh and said, "Amazing, he actually had thought of this earlier and had already allowed his disciples to believe in the ‘Cloud’ faction years ago."

Mouse nodded and said, "The Saint who was promoted to Elder then used his power to slowly collapse the ‘Cloud’ faction. Later, the ‘Cloud’ faction declined and was no longer able to confront the ‘Hard Cultivation’ faction. They gradually lost their authority and became an ant.i.thesis within the Elder Council.

"After that, Prometheus"s authority in the Elder Council was at the peak. The Temple’s army and the Holy Knights also preferred Prometheus.

"Because Prometheus was once a Holy Knight and a disciple of a veteran Paladin, almost all the Holy Knights were his comrades or his fellow disciples. Since he was a Holy Knight before, it was easier for him to win the goodwill of the Holy Knights. The Holy Knights naturally supported him compared to the other Elders."

At this point, Mouse suddenly frowned. "There was also Fielding! During our time in the Temple, Fielding liked…liked me very much."

Rody then said, "So, in order to win over the Paladin Fielding, Prometheus deliberately drew the two of you together?"

Mouse sighed and said, "My teacher was also an Elder of the ‘Hard Cultivation’ faction. Prometheus was the one who recommended me to become my teacher’s disciple."

Mouse slowly told the story of the Chief Elder. After listening to the tale, Rody was silent for a long time. He could not help but sigh. "Formidable! Truly formidable! In just a few decades, he slowly eroded the Temple and spread his influence throughout the Roland Continent! This Prometheus is frightening…Could it be that he started planning this from a very long time ago?"

Mouse smiled wryly and said, "To be honest, I even suspect that he has started planning since the time he gave up his status as a Holy Knight to become a pract.i.tioner." She suddenly said in a strange tone, "Do you know who Prometheus admires the most?"

Before Rody could reply, Mouse gave the answer, "It"s Moses, the first and only Pontiff in the history of the Temple! Moses!"

Rody was unable to help himself from smiling wryly. "Now, it looks like he is about to reach his idol"s status. Looks like he is about to become the second Pontiff in the history of the Temple!"

Rody’s eyes then showed a confused expression and said, "Mouse, do you know the Paladin who came tonight was not really here to a.s.sa.s.sinate me? In fact, she was here to convey a message. Prometheus wants to see me. Prometheus also wants me to know that in this world, there are no permanent friends nor enemies!" Rody then smiled wryly. "Is Prometheus really G.o.d’s Chosen One? Hmph…"