Tier 635
On the eastern shore of the Prit Kingdom lies Tivyán.
In Tivyán during the daytime, a steady drizzle falls from the sky. The vast city is shrouded in a haze of rain and mist, with pedestrian umbrellas bobbing along the damp, gray streets, creating an atmosphere of chilling tranquility throughout the city.
In a modest yet elegantly decorated restaurant along a street in the northern district, Doro, dressed in a long black coat with a narrow-brimmed round hat, is leisurely sipping a cup of red tea. Across from her, a young man in a shirt and vest, Gregor, is indulging in a fried cod fillet.
“I thought your study abroad trip would only last a few months, but I never expected you to be gone for over half a year. Honestly, I was quite worried about you being alone overseas for so long. If it hadn’t been for the telegrams you sent back, I don’t know how anxious I would have become.”
While eating his fried cod, Gregor spoke to his sister seated before him. Doro, upon hearing his words, calmly placed her cup of tea down and smiled as she replied.
“Originally, we did plan to return in three or four months, but long journeys often come with unexpected events, such as cancellations due to bad weather or suddenly discovering interesting sights that change our itinerary… After dealing with so many of those, the whole trip just extended.”
“Unexpected events, huh… Speaking of which, not long after you left, I saw news in the newspaper about a ship sinking, and that ship’s destination was the same as yours. It really worried me at the time, but fortunately, I received your telegram shortly after,” Gregor continued, while Doro appeared to reminisce, then replied.
“The ship that sank was indeed the Shining White Pearl, but we were on a different vessel and not on that ship. Even if we had been, it wouldn’t have mattered; didn’t the newspaper say that nearly all the passengers were rescued by a church ship passing by? So it’s fine.” Doro continued leisurely, while Gregor took a sip of water before speaking.
“Yeah… That’s right. If I remember correctly, the newspaper said that the church fleet was on a pilgrimage. By the way! I think Sister Vania Chafiron was part of that fleet. Later, the pilgrims on that fleet were captured by the island natives while conquering the sea, and it was only after Sister Vania convinced them that the crisis was resolved. Many places now say that was the beginning of Sister Vania’s path to sainthood.”
Gregor said with a hint of delight in his voice, and upon seeing that, Doro tilted her head slightly and continued.
“You seem quite interested in that sister…”
“Of course! Sister Vania is a pride of our Prit, this year’s hot topic in the newspapers. Whenever there’s news about her, people in Tivyán are always discussing it. Unless Miss Adele has a new performance, very few can overshadow her popularity. I even planned to pay my respects when Sister Vania returned to Tivyán, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find the time due to work.”
“Speaking of which, I remember that some of the cities Sister Vania visited are places you also went to, right? How was it? Did you see her in person during your travels? Is she as beautiful as in the photos?” Gregor directly questioned Doro, and she responded.
“Actually, I didn’t meet her. My itinerary was quite packed in every city, leaving no extra time for anything else. But now that she has returned to Tivyán, perhaps there will be an opportunity to see her one day.”
“I see… So Doro, how do you feel about your trip overall? You’ve visited quite a few countries in these past six months, while I haven’t even stepped out of the country yet,” Gregor said as he forked another piece of fried fish. Doro continued to respond.
“I feel good. The food abroad is delicious, and many places have wonderful cultures and landscapes, especially the people. I enjoy talking with locals through my translator wherever I go, experiencing their cultures. They often gift me with local specialties, and sometimes I feel embarrassed to accept them. I’ve gained quite a bit during my travels; I even have some local ‘friends’ from my journey who provided me with significant ‘help.'”
With a subtly meaningful smile, Doro said this, while Gregor nodded in agreement.
“That’s great… It’s quite rare for you to have such an opportunity to broaden your horizons at your age, unlike me, who’s never even left the country.”
With a hint of self-deprecation, Gregor spoke slowly, and Doro softly responded.
“By the way, I haven’t seen you in over half a year, Gregor. How have you been? From what you just said, it sounds like you’ve been busy lately?”
“Me? I have indeed been a bit busy recently, but I’ve gotten through it. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, Doro! Your brother is getting a promotion!” Gregor said with a hint of pride, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. Doro’s eyes widened in surprised delight upon hearing this.
“Promotion? You’ve only been at the Tivyán headquarters for half a year, right? And you’re getting promoted already?” Doro exclaimed in astonishment as she looked at Gregor. He continued with a smile.
“Yes, my previous superior was transferred due to some matters, so I was elevated to her position. Doro, you must listen; now I’m a supervisory figure in the company, the youngest supervisor at the entire headquarters no less; it’s rare to reach this level at my age. Many people say I’m a prodigy.”
Adjusting his collar, Gregor said this rather smugly. Doro, while listening, stroked her chin and spoke.
“A rare young supervisor, huh? That’s impressive…”
Saying this, she couldn’t help but softly applaud.
…
After being apart for over half a year, Doro finally reunited with her brother. Following a welcome dinner hosted by Gregor, she bid him farewell once again.
After saying goodbye to Gregor, Doro stepped onto the streets of Tivyán, shielding herself with her small umbrella. Soon a carriage driven by a zombie puppet appeared before her. After the zombie opened the carriage door, Doro stepped inside.
Once the door was shut, Doro took control of the zombie coachman again, and the carriage set off, while Doro settled in her seat, gazing out at the flowing raindrops on the window and the blurred scenery. She couldn’t help but fall into thought.
“Finally… After such a long time, I’ve finally caught up with Gregor. At first, I was worried about how to explain to him after becoming red-tier, but I never expected things to change like this. Vania has actually been appointed as the acting Archbishop of Prit…”
Doro thought to herself. Earlier, she had been contemplating how to meet Gregor after her promotion to red-tier. She had initially planned to “study” by moving to other cities around Tivyán, but unexpected changes occurred after Doro actually reached red-tier.
In the previous battle with Gethsmoor, the original Archbishop of Prit, Francesco, was severely injured and urgently sent to Sacred Summit. Doro had thought that at such a crucial moment, Sacred Summit would quickly dispatch a successor, yet unexpectedly, no successor arrived, and Vania was accidentally appointed as the acting Archbishop, taking temporary charge of Tivyán’s Tiered Vision.
“The church clearly has so many red-tiers that they should be able to extract someone to succeed in Tivyán… yet they didn’t send anyone. Instead, they appointed Vania, a white chalk, to temporarily take over the duties of Archbishop of Prit. This is quite a strange move…”
“The only plausible explanation for this odd maneuver must be political struggles within the church. Given the current situation, there seems to be a divergence of opinions among the higher-ups at Sacred Summit regarding Prit. Vania’s ascension should be a temporary compromise resulting from these contradictions. The tendency for the church’s internal splits seems to be growing stronger; hopefully, it won’t lead to any major incidents.”
“But regardless of the outcome, Vania becoming the acting Archbishop of Prit is the best thing for me. Not only does it allow me to return to Tivyán, but it also gives me some insight into that so-called Tiered Vision.”
Doro contemplated, recalling that not long ago, Vania had officially received the appointment from Sacred Summit at St. Hymn Cathedral, becoming the acting Archbishop of Prit. Following this, she would take charge of the grand ceremony held at St. Hymn Cathedral, the Tiered Vision.
Indeed, Tiered Vision is a ritual, a powerful sensing ceremony. One of the natures of the “Lamp” is insight and faith, and Tiered Vision is a ceremony based on faith for the purpose of sensing.
The power of the Three Saints stems from the beliefs of billions of believers worldwide, and this vast power of belief converges and transmits through countless churches spread across the world. This means that the faith of all Glimmer believers in Tivyán is gathered in St. Hymn Cathedral, from where it is sent to the Inner Realm.
With the permission of the Three Saints, not all faith ultimately flows to the Three Saints in the Inner Realm. A small fraction flows back to the church itself, becoming the foundation of the city’s extraordinary systems. Relying on the continuous strength of faith, the Glimmer city churches possess numerous formidable abilities, among which Tiered Vision is one.
When an extraordinary being of at least red-tier connects with the church’s extraordinary system, Tiered Vision begins to operate instantly, allowing immediate detection of any other extraordinary beings of red-tier within the city and its surroundings.
Against Tiered Vision, it is extremely difficult for an extraordinary being to use the power of “Shadow” to conceal themselves. Even for a primary “Shadow” red tier expert, if one dares to confront Tiered Vision plainly, their “Shadow” spirituality will quickly be consumed, as they are essentially facing the entire city’s foundation of faith.
While Tiered Vision has exceptionally powerful detection capabilities, it does have a structural limitation at the ritual level; that is, there is a cap on the number of targets that can be detected simultaneously. In theory, in a city with a church, no extraordinary being should escape the powerful detection of Tiered Vision. However, if there are too many extraordinary beings in the city, then Tiered Vision will be unable to identify them all at once; its target locking capacity has an upper limit. Once that limit is reached, it cannot lock any more targets and must unassign previous ones to focus on new ones.
The upper limit for locking targets of Tiered Vision is relatively low. In a large city like Tivyán, just the number of official white chalk extraordinary beings can easily surpass that limit. Therefore, to address this, Tiered Vision across church cities worldwide has been customized to be effective only against red-tiers and above.
In comparison to apprentices, black earth, and white chalk, the number of red-tiers is rather limited, and for the church, the threat of a red-tier is far greater than ten or more white chalk. The defenses against a red-tier are much higher than for dozens of black earth or white chalk, which is precisely why Tiered Vision has become a detection method specifically targeting high-tier extraordinary beings while not restricting mid-tier and low-tier extraordinary beings.
Essentially, Tiered Vision is a ritual requiring a red-tier “Lamp” as its ceremonial maintainer to function. Without a red-tier “Lamp,” a divine blessing object-level “Lamp” can also serve as a substitute, which is why Vania can oversee Tivyán’s Tiered Vision; as a holder of the Holy Relic Scroll, she is currently the only one qualified to supervise this ritual within the Prit domain.
“With the foundation of countless beliefs, feeling the omniscient gaze of the Lamp? The dominance of Tiered Vision is, in a sense, one reflection of the Glimmer church’s belief hegemony. No other society has the abundant foundation to support something like this; Tiered Vision is uniquely a creation of the Glimmer church.
“But now, for me, as a red-tier, this formidable ability does not completely constrain me. This isn’t solely due to Vania’s involvement…”
Doro thinks to herself while glancing at the ring on her finger, an heirloom silver ring adorned with a crescent moon that she has worn for many years.
The Veil Ring is one of Doro’s most frequently used extraordinary items; it has helped her conceal herself numerous times from various extraordinary detections. Yet the familiar ring began to emit a strange silver light after the battle at Twinkling Star Lake, a change that Doro only began to notice after some time.
The Moonshade Ring is the new name presented under Doro’s Identification Technique. Its function is not vastly different from the original Veil Ring, but with several other improvements.
The Moonshade Ring allows Doro to conceal her extraordinary presence in various detections by consuming “Shadow,” similar to the Veil Ring, but its consumption rate of “Shadow” is only half that of the Veil Ring. This means that while wearing this ring, Doro can withstand extraordinary detections targeting her using less “Shadow.” Additionally, it has an extra minor feature, called Tiered Shadow.
Simply put, when Doro wears the Moonshade Ring, she has the ability to mask her red-tier status. This means that as long as Doro doesn’t use any abilities exceeding the white chalk category, she will not be regarded as red-tier in the eyes of any extraordinary detection. When facing Tiered Vision, Doro only needs to refrain from using powers beyond white chalk, and Tiered Vision will be unable to detect her presence, something Doro had previously tested with Vania.
In other words, with this ring, even in a city where another archbishop presides over Tiered Vision, as long as she uses her abilities judiciously, she can still act without being hindered.
“The change in the Veil Ring… Clearly, this has the marks of Mirror Moon’s influence; could this be a gift she left for me? She seems quite aware of my worries after my promotion…”
Looking at the ring in her hand, Doro thought to herself, then slowly lowered her hand, continuing to sit calmly in the carriage as it moved forward.
“The urgent matter now is to quickly replenish the spirituality I’ve lost, but the current situation in Tivyán is concerning. Regardless, with one less red-tier archbishop in Tivyán, the defenses against extraordinary beings have significantly decreased, making it likely for some trouble to arise. I hope that the upcoming period can transition smoothly, allowing us to await the new archbishop’s ascendancy in peace…”
