"Medium rare steak, are you sure? Sister?"
Behind the counter of the restaurant, the waiter asked Vanya. In this canteen filled with clergy, it was rare for anyone to order a steak cooked to such a low degree. You see, medium rare steak still had blood in the center, which most religious people couldn't accept.
"Hmm... I've thought about it, and please fry it medium well for me instead." After thinking for a moment, Vanya spoke to the waiter again, and this time, the other person nodded.
"Okay, Sister, please find a seat upfront and rest. Your meal will be ready shortly." The waiter replied, and Vanya, following their instructions, found a seat in front of the steak restaurant and began to think with a furrowed brow.
'Just now, I suddenly felt like eating a medium rare steak... Even though I always ate medium well before...
'Well, on second thought, it makes sense. I've eaten medium well too many times, so it's normal to want to try a different taste. I'll skip it this time, but next time, I'll definitely order a medium rare one to try...'
Vanya thought this to herself. After careful consideration, she felt that her earlier thought was actually fine. She even regretted having the waiter change it to a medium well steak at the last minute and decided that she would definitely order a medium rare steak to try next time she came.
Vanya didn't sit for long. Soon, the waiter brought over the steak, which was already fried and sizzling, and placed it on Vanya's table. Vanya looked at it with satisfaction and paid the waiter.
Holding her knife and fork, Vanya slowly ate the delicious steak on the table. Just then, a figure carrying a tray appeared opposite her.
"Hey, Vanya, you're really fast."
A Sister dressed in the same attire as Vanya sat down in her seat and placed the noodles in her hand on the table before greeting Vanya. Vanya looked up in surprise upon hearing this.
"Oh, Sister Aurora, what a coincidence."
Vanya said. The Sister in front of her could be considered her colleague. They both worked in the Historical Scripture Department and were among the few Sisters there. Although their relationship wasn't particularly close, they were quite familiar with each other, as they saw each other every day.
"Since it's a coincidence, let's eat together. I've been exhausted these past few days, and it's better to relax while eating and chatting."
Aurora said this, and then she began chatting with Vanya. Since they worked together, they talked about work-related matters. However, as they chatted, Aurora gradually steered the conversation towards gossip about other colleagues and even their superiors.
"Speaking of which, Vanya, have you noticed? Deacon Kirk has been coming to inspect the site much more frequently lately. It feels like a lot of pressure seeing him walking around while working every day."
Lowering her voice slightly, Aurora said to Vanya, who nodded in response after taking a bite of the cut steak with her fork.
"Hmm... That's true. Before, Deacon Kirk clearly preferred to stay in his office and do research."
"Exactly, exactly. Before, he clearly preferred to do academic work in his office. I heard he was doing it to try and transfer to a Priest position or get promoted. With him coming out like this, I wonder if he's achieved something?"
Aurora said to Vanya, who thought for a moment before replying.
"Transferring to a Priest or getting promoted... neither is easy. Transferring to a Priest might be possible if his academic work is good, but for promotion, not only does his Spirituality need to be sufficient, but he also needs to have some achievements."
Vanya said this. Within the Shining Light Church's internal hierarchy, there were parallel promotion paths: the Priest line and the Deacon line.
The Priest line was the leadership position, generally referring to the ranking of the person in charge of the Shining Light Church's influence in a region, from a Priest and Canon Priest in a small ordinary Church, to a Bishop in a large city, to an Archbishop in an important city, and finally to a Cardinal and Pope on the Holy Mountain. Each position on this line almost corresponded to a leadership position of a diocese of varying sizes.
The Deacon line, on the other hand, almost exclusively referred to positions other than the Priest line, non-leadership or non-primary leadership positions within the Shining Light Church, generally called Deacons, parallel to Priests. Deacons were ranked from low to high as Junior Deacon, Intermediate Deacon, Senior Deacon, Council Deacon, Chief Council Deacon, and so on...
Generally speaking, Deacons were responsible for assisting Priests. At the same rank, Priests were more esteemed. For example, although a Bishop and a Senior Deacon were at the same rank and both required a White-rank cleric to hold the position, a Bishop could serve as the primary leader of a region, enjoying greater power and more abundant Extraordinary resources, while a Senior Deacon was significantly less so.
For instance, Vanya was not an ordinary Sister. As an Extraordinary at the Student rank, she also held the rank of Junior Deacon.
While eating, Aurora continued to chat with Vanya. As they chatted, Aurora would often take out her locket, open it, and look at it, a look of nostalgia appearing on her face.
"What's wrong?" When she had almost finished her meal, Vanya asked Aurora, who was staring at her open locket, with a hint of curiosity. The other person came to her senses and replied.
"Ah... I'm sorry. I suddenly missed my mother who is outside, so I was looking at the photo to remember her."
Saying this, Aurora turned the open locket towards Vanya. Vanya saw a small photo inside, which showed a woman holding a little girl. This looked like a photo of Aurora and her mother when she was a child.
"Missing your mother..."
Looking at the photo Aurora showed her, Vanya felt a pang in her heart and suddenly felt a touch of nostalgia for her own mother.
But the problem was, Vanya was an orphan who grew up in a religious orphanage. She had no impression of either her father or mother, yet she was now feeling nostalgic for someone she had never met.
'I feel a bit sentimental lately...'
Vanya thought this and then continued to try and finish the rest of her meal.
After finishing dinner, Vanya rested for a while and then went to the Great Church for evening prayer. After the evening prayer ended, she finally returned to her single dorm room.
After returning to her dorm, Vanya didn't immediately rest and sleep. Instead, she sat at her desk and took out an old book to read.
This was the new secret transmission Dorothy gave Vanya, called "Thorn Whip". It was dropped when they teamed up to fight the Vampire Claudius last time. After Dorothy finished reading it, she gave it to Vanya to read.
Vanya now read a portion of other secret transmissions every night. Compared to observing secret transmissions with bulky instruments at work, her sensory experience of directly opening a secret transmission was much better.
After flipping through about a page of the secret transmission, Vanya felt a clear discomfort in her spirit. As usual, she closed her eyes and prayed to Aka, seeking to cleanse her Spirit Sight.
...
East of King's Campus, at 17 Green Shade Town, Dorothy, wearing pajamas and lying on the sofa reading a novel, heard the usual prayer sound. Without thinking too much, she helped the distant Vanya extract all the accumulated Spirit Sight into Spirituality.
However, after the extraction, her brows furrowed slightly, because the Spirituality she extracted this time surprised her a little.
"Huh? This time, the Spirituality extracted actually has four types:'Shadow', 'Light', ""Cup"", and 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment)? Good heavens... why so many? I'm almost extracting all six types of Spirituality in one go?"
Noticing this scene before her, Dorothy said with a furrowed brow. Then she put down the novel she was holding and thought carefully.
"I remember the secret transmission I gave Vanya last time... it was just that one book, "Thorn Whip". It's a secret transmission purely on the'Shadow' theme. Logically, this Spirituality should only extract'Shadow' and 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment), right? Where did the ""Cup"" and 'Light' come from?"