Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant novel Chapter 613

Sachsen swept his hand across the Pantheon Stones as he spoke.

“Your Holiness.”

“Yes, Master Sachsen.”

“When people enter actual combat, do you know how many techniques they usually use?”

“Well? I have a lot of skills, so I use quite a few. Though most of them are buff skills.”

“Excellent. But for ordinary people, even ten is usually the limit. Do you know why?”

“Well......”

After thinking for a moment, Su-ho answered.

“Selection and concentration?”

Sachsen laughed at the answer.

“Correct. In the end, techniques are no different. Only the strongest and most efficient survive. People say there is no useless knowledge in the world, but ultimately, after endless refinement, only the most efficient forms remain. And in Your Holiness’s case, besides the holy arts of the Pantheon, you also have a mountain of other abilities you must use, don’t you?”

“That’s true.”

“So from now on, Your Holiness only needs to learn the most necessary techniques among the things recorded within these Pantheon Stones.”

“Will you be choosing them for me, Master Sachsen?”

“The choice itself belongs to you, but I will make recommendations. Based on my own experience.”

“Sounds good. Your recommendations will certainly be more reliable than my own when I barely understand any of this.”

“Thank you. Then I shall begin by recommending what I consider both the foundation and the final conclusion of all Pantheon holy arts.”

Sachsen lightly tapped one of the embedded Pantheon Stones with his greatsword.

At once, white light began leaking from the touched Pantheon Stone.

“This is the Cleric Stone. There are only two things you need to remember here.”

“Two things?”

“Yes. Clerics are beings who perform healing miracles through holy power. Therefore, there are only two things you truly need to know: restoration and purification.”

Restoration and purification.

Su-ho understood immediately.

Among his current skills, the closest equivalents were Restore and Dispel.

Sachsen continued explaining.

“Of course, Clerics possess many other skills. At Your Holiness’s current level, you likely use things such as Paladian, which grants holy power to weapons, Divine Aura, which enables continuous healing, or Saint Dome, which creates a defensive barrier over a designated area.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“But in truth, aside from restoration and purification, everything else Clerics possess is merely a substitute for techniques belonging to other classes. For example, if you know how to use the protective holy arts of the Monks, would there really be any need for something like Saint Dome?”

“I use Saint Dome more often to protect others rather than myself. Wouldn’t that make its applications somewhat different?”

“Why do you assume protective holy arts can only be used on yourself?”

“Ah?”

Su-ho’s eyes widened.

Right.

Why had he never thought of that?

“Everything depends on how it is applied. Rigid thinking creates ceilings and limits for anything. Whatever the Cleric Stone lacks can be supplemented by the representative techniques of the other classes, so do not worry too much.”

“I understand. I never thought about it that way before. As expected of you, Master Sachsen.”

“Now then, returning to the explanation. In the Cleric Stone, restoration and purification are enough. In fact, from an extreme perspective, restoration alone would be sufficient. Restoration itself is the act of returning something to its original state, and purification serves a similar purpose.”

“Then why separate them?”

“Because after experiencing things firsthand, I realized my way of thinking had been wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“When my perspective was still narrow, I believed everything in the world originated from something pure and clean. But some things were originally what we would consider filthy and corrupted.”

“Ah!”

“You understand now?”

“Yes. If you apply the concept of purification to restoration, then everything would have to return to what we consider a pure and good state. But if the original itself is corrupt and evil, then restoration loses its meaning.”

“Correct. That is why purification is necessary. Because the standard for purification must be the pure and righteous state we ourselves define.”

For example, if a being’s default state was mental corruption from the very beginning, then even if restoration were used on them, their mind would remain corrupted no matter how many times it was restored.

“That is why, after long experience, I concluded that restoration and purification were the only things worth preserving from the Cleric Stone.”

After pondering for a moment, Su-ho asked,

“I have a question.”

“Yes.”

“Personally, I think your reasoning is correct, Master Sachsen, but during the Conclave, the Cardinal named Antonio used a technique called White Domain. To be honest, I found it rather appealing.”

“White Domain. You mean the domain-type holy art that prohibits everything except holy attributes?”

“That’s right.”

Sachsen smirked.

It was the sort of smile an adult gave a child who had said something immature.

“It certainly is tempting. But in the end, what happened to Antonio?”

“He lost.”

“That’s exactly the point.”

“Hm?”

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