[Main Oath: Forgiveness—Forgive the faults of others, so that they are spared from the assault of sin!]

[Oath Feedback: Each time you forgive someone, you gain an essential boost from that person.]

[Current Boost: Tangs—Life Boost (value of one).]

“I see now. The power of faith can elevate the way an oath is fulfilled to a certain degree, and it can make the feedback align more closely with its essence, right?” Naimes carefully savored the Divine Nails within his body.

Originally, forgiveness had to be directed personally at others, and absolute pardon had to be granted, but now the requirement was no longer so strict.

Also, at first forgiveness could only grant a life boost, but now the boosts obtained had increased.

However, so far the only person he had forgiven was Tangs, so he still only had the life boost from Tangs.

“It’s still a bit lacking. My faith isn’t strong enough. Currently, I only have seven Divine Nails in my body, representing twenty-one years of faith’s power.”

Beiqi Village had over a hundred households and around five hundred residents. Although everyone was openly a believer, only about two hundred regularly prayed every day.

In other words, over the course of a year, the entire village generated roughly two hundred years’ worth of faith’s power.

This faith energy gathered from each household’s small shrine and converged on the statue in the church.

Then the majority of that faith power was transmitted to the Oath God, with only a portion remaining behind, making the church’s statue increasingly sacred and mysterious.

Naimes opened his eyes and looked at the statue of the Oath God before him. Judging from the fact that one Divine Nail represented three years of faith power, there was still about seven hundred years’ worth of faith accumulated on the statue.

Taking into account losses, it was roughly estimated that the Oath God likely had not drawn faith from the statue for about three years.

“That coincides exactly with the time I fell into the Abyss. It seems the Oath God suffered serious damage then,” Naimes thought to himself with some satisfaction.

“But that’s understandable, since part of the deity’s divine essence resides within me.”

Having some new insights into faith, Naimes stood up as crackling sounds radiated from his body.

With a slight activation of his breathing technique, Naimes could sense that his life aura had already grown dim.

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Its dimness now indicated that Naer’s body likely had only two to three years of life left.

Moreover, his potential was depleted; unless a miracle happened, he would no longer have the chance to become a Steel Seed.

His secret breathing technique had also failed—he could no longer directly mobilize the aura to gain temporary buffs to harm demons.

Of course, at this point, Naimes no longer needed such temporary buffs.

Having broken through the Black Stone grade limit to reach thirteen, Naimes had not yet become a Steel Seed, but he had obtained transcendental traits as a result.

Unlike the immortality granted by small demons possessing the body, the transcendental traits Naimes now possessed were of two types.

One was called—Initial Breakthrough.

This was originally the temporary buff granted by the secret breathing technique, a trait that could directly damage demons with immortality, but now it had solidified permanently.

The other was called—Gift of Forgiveness.

This trait came from Naimes using the Forgiveness Oath to become an Oathbound Holy Knight, with effects such that the one who forgives others also gains forgiveness themselves; they are immune to damage with a value of ten or below, can partially reduce damage above ten, and simultaneously lessen negative states such as mental pressure and curses!

These two transcendental traits were closely linked to the Divine Nails in Naimes’s body. As long as the Divine Nails remained, the traits would persist.

Naimes roughly assessed his condition and confirmed one thing: possessing these two traits meant that even if he became a Steel Seed, he could still fight relying on the methods of a Holy Knight.

This was the power of the Oathbound Holy Knight. A Holy Knight limited by a bottleneck could break through the maximum numerical values and gain relevant transcendental traits, greatly enhancing his strength.

The Oath Church’s status as one of the top churches in the material plane was by no means an empty reputation.

“All right, your wish has been fulfilled. I hope you don’t leave before me,” the old priest said to Naimes, a trace of sigh passing through his eyes before he turned and walked toward the confession area.

Naimes looked at the old man’s frail body but pondered the odds of successfully ambushing him at this moment.

In the end, Naimes gave up on the idea—not wanting to fight on the opponent’s home turf.

Priests’ combat power within the church was greatly enhanced, primarily because the Holy Light could attract and strengthen faith power to some degree.

At the same time, the church likely buried sacred relics during its establishment, which could unleash powerful forces in critical moments.

On the other hand, Naimes was very interested in the secrets the old priest might be hiding.

Naer had been exiled to this small village because of a family conflict and exposing some family scandals.

But what about the old priest?

A Steel Seed, surpassing eighty percent of the world’s priests.

How could such a person serve as a stationed priest in a small village?

This was not just a case of wasting talent, but a grave misallocation.

In unstable times, a Steel Seed priest could solve problems to stabilize tens of thousands, or even more, people’s lives.

“He came to this village before Naer and has no name. He even takes care of Naer,” Naimes searched through Naer’s memories, trying to uncover more information about the old priest.

For example, Naer was supposed to live in the church’s rest area by rule, but he lived in a house provided by village chief Op.

Also, the old priest occasionally talked to Naer, comforting him.

Beyond that, there was no more information—less than what the old priest had revealed today.

According to Naimes, today was just the ‘roof lifting.’

After a few tugs with the old priest, they would reach the ‘window opening’ phase.

For instance, transforming a fully Divine Nail-pierced Oathbound Holy Knight with completely activated potential into one who has only one Divine Nail.

However, after the old priest asked about his origin from the Dartmanley family and then casually spoke about letting go, Naimes’s plan became more aggressive.

He resolutely decided to take the full oath today.

The old priest actually agreed, showing an attitude that seemed to owe Naer something.

“Interesting. It seems I need to investigate the old priest through other channels,” Naimes keenly sensed that the old priest’s existence might represent some hidden secret.

And this secret very likely had connections with the Dartmanley family or even the Oath Church!