Under the dim sky, the rain was pouring down, and the sky and the earth were gray.

On the hill outside Linkou Village, Raphael was soaked, carrying a bundle of firewood on his back, pulling an old man in a black robe, running in the rain, shouting: "Hurry up, dead old man, I will be scolded to death by my wife." ”

The old man covered his forehead with his hand and said breathlessly: "Don't worry, Raphael, I will explain to Madame." ”

Raphael exclaimed, "Dead old man, to put it lightly, what are you?, and explain to the lady?" As a manservant, he could not help but worry, even though he returned late to save the old man.

Fortunately, Lady Cessis is very gentle and may not punish him.

As soon as he turned the hill, Raphael suddenly stopped, and the firewood he was carrying slipped to the ground.

The old man grabbed Raphael and pinned him to the ground.

In the distance, a large army of heavily armed cavalry was slaughtering the village! They were shouting for the execution of heretics. The poor villagers scattered and fled, but where could they outrun the wildebeest?

Only then did Raphael faintly hear the screams of the wind and rain, the rain made his eyes sour and astringent, and he looked through the bushes on the hillside with his eyes wide open, and saw one of his friends who had fallen under the butcher's knife with a wail, and he trembled and tried to get up impulsively.

The old man pressed him down and said, "You are looking for death, this is Pope St. Paul's personal guard, look, the tall man who is riding on a horse and not moving is Pope St. Paul." Then the old man wondered, "It doesn't make sense, isn't St. Paul on a ten-year parish tour?

Raphael's eyes were red, and he looked at the Pope on his horse.

However, St. Paul's expression was kind, gentle, and calm.

At this moment, Raphael felt that his world had collapsed, and this scene made him feel that those knight biographies were so ridiculous.

He muttered, "Why? Why is this happening?"

The old man said in a low voice: "This world is only about interests, now you shut up for me, if they find out, we will die." ”

The rain gradually stopped, and Raphael lay there cold, numb, until a fiery red came into his eyes.

The village is on fire!

He jumped up again and rushed towards the village.

This time, the old man ignored him, for the cavalry was already gone, and he ran after Raphael.

After all, the hall of the main fort of the village was made of stone, and Raphael saw that only the house on the edge was on fire, and he rushed into it anxiously, but fortunately he was soaking wet, but he could resist a little of the heat.

He exclaimed nervously, "Lady Cessis!"

The old man didn't follow up, and shouted: "Raphael, don't go in, this is death!"

Before the fire broke out in the hall of the main castle, Raphael rushed in and found the pregnant Cessis lying naked on the ground, covered in blood.

Raphael staggered over, picked up Cécis, and cried, "Lady Cécis, what's wrong with you?"

Hearing his cry, Cessis opened his eyes weakly, and said with a miserable smile: "I can't do it, the village has been condemned as a heresy, Pope, he is impulsive...... Little Raphael, get out of the village, I know Hans is not good to you, and I beg you to never come back when you meet him. ”

Raphael sobbed, "I will, ma'am, don't worry." ”

Cessis suddenly struggled, stretched out her hands to the roof, used the last of her strength, and cried out hoarsely, "O goddess of light, listen to my prayers, I am willing to dedicate my life to you, so that there may be a truly just and merciful church in the world!"

With that, her hands hung down, her beautiful eyes widened, and she stared blankly at the ceiling, the last glimmer of light in her eyes vanished.

Raphael was still crying: "Lady Cessis, woo woo, I like you. ”

It's a pity that Cessis can't hear it anymore, and the old man outside hurriedly called: "Raphael, come out quickly, if you don't come out, it's too late." ”

Raphael felt the air getting hotter and hotter, and a stirring spirit finally came to his senses, and he ran out of the hall and came to a safe place outside.

He knelt on the ground, gasping for breath, and there was a hot feeling in his chest, and the old man came to him and said, "Raphael, are you alright? Let's get out of here, it's not safe here." ”

Raphael, remembering Lord Hans's harshness to him and Cecis's tenderness to him, became sad, and he fell to his knees, holding his hands on the ground, and wept: "Lady Cessis, these damned bastards! Why is this happening?"

The old man said calmly: "Raphael, sadness and anger will not solve anything, you should feel lucky that we are not dead, can we?"

Raphael had a hazy affection for the gentle Cécis, and he thought of Secis's voice and smile, of St. Paul's kind face, and of the screams of the villagers.

When Cecis's last words flashed through his mind, there was a "snap" in his head, as if something had shattered, the surrounding environment became clear, his eyes flashed with a bright light, he calmed down, and said, "Dead old man, how can I get great power?"

The old man's eyes rolled and he sighed: "My name is Edward, and I am just an alchemist with no strength, but I have a friend who is very powerful, let me take you to him to repay your life-saving grace." With that, he glanced at Raphael with twinkling eyes, and then walked out into the field.

Raphael thought about it, the village had been condemned as a heretic, at least not to stay here, and followed Edward.

The two of them came to a simple shack in a nearby hill, which Edward had built improvly.

After Edward had cleaned up, the two of them hurried through the mountains, trying to get as far away from the village as possible.

The low-level demonic beasts encountered on the road were all skillfully dispatched by Edward.

The next night, Edward felt that it was too far away from the village to be safer, so he set up a tent in a col and sprinkled a ring of pungent potions around the tent.

In the tent, Edward sat on the beast carpet, looked at Raphael opposite, and said: "Raphael, don't put emotions on your face, there are too many such things, Cessis is not your relative, and don't you think that a smile can confuse the enemy? ”

Raphael took a few breaths, squeezed out a smile, and said, "Dead old man, you are right. ”

Edward took out a crystal ball from one of his bags: "Very well, you give me a smile like this, and you are not allowed to put on a straight face." This crystal ball is mixed with various elements, it is a very powerful magic prop, you can try your physique, if you want to become stronger, you can't do it without a good physique. ”

Raphael muttered to himself, although he had never seen a crystal ball test, where was it a powerful magic prop?

Following Edward's instructions, he touched his hand on the crystal ball and concentrated on it.

From time to time, a small pattern appears on the crystal ball, a small tree, a flame, a whirlwind, an air sword, ......

Edward looked at it for a while, touched his forehead, sighed, and said, "Raphael, I'm afraid that you are the same as me, your magic power and fighting spirit talent are very poor, referred to as waste materials, but your speed of condensing the elements is very fast, and only the last spiritual power is left to try." ”

He put away the crystal ball and pulled out a disc with twelve small balls of different colors.

The disc was activated, and all twelve small balls floated.

He looked at Raphael's ugly face and said: "Raphael, this astrolabe is even more powerful, I got it from an ancient tomb ruins, you use mental power to control these small balls, these small balls have the effect of amplifying mental power, if you have good mental power talent, you can at least become an alchemist like me." ”

Raphael froze, shaken off his frustration, bit his lip, and focused again, trying to control the ball and make it spin.

At first, he was not proficient in this kind of control, and the ball was dangling, but gradually, he found the trick, and the ball finally stabilized.

Edward nodded slightly, even if he could only control a small ball, then as an alchemy apprentice, there would be no problem with miscellaneous work.

Rafael didn't know what the test criteria were for this set, and he began to control the second ball at the same time, which also began to spin on its own.

The two balls were spinning at the same time, and he looked at the bits of starlight that shimmered in the balls, and thought they were so mysterious, and when he looked closely, he saw that many of the stars were revolving around a bright spot.

This made him want to imitate the starlight, so he controlled the second orb, which revolved around the center of the astrolabe.

There was a hint of joy in Edward's eyes, and being able to control two balls at the same time made this kid a little valuable.

However, after a while, he was shocked, because he saw that the balls were spinning one after the other, and they were all constantly spinning, and they were still revolving around the center of the ball, until the fifth, which was very reluctant.

Edward's face trembled, the corners of his mouth twitched, and he trembled: "Okay, Raphael, you will become a great alchemist." ”

Raphael finally breathed a sigh of relief, relinquished control of the ball, looked at Edward with big golden eyes full of hope, and said, "Did I meet the test standards?"

Edward's eyes rolled, and his original idea was adjusted, and he said, "Raphael, I'm not boasting, I'm a powerful alchemist, but I can only barely control four small balls." ”

In fact, he can only control two.

Raphael listened, and a real smile finally appeared on the goose egg's face, but it was only for a moment, and then, he pursed his lips and said: "Alchemist, after all, you don't have much strength, just like you, you were actually bitten by poison in the forest and almost died." ”

Edward raised his eyebrows and said, "Raphael, not to mention becoming a powerful alchemist and being able to get status in various forces, just talking about your spiritual power, there is also a profession that allows you to cultivate, so you will get power." ”

Raphael immediately became excited, and said sweetly: "Oh, Grandpa Edward, what profession?";