The priest was a lot shorter than most of the other people I had seen in this world. He was only 150 centimeters tall - a very notable decrease compared to the bear-like physique of many other people in the crowd, who stood at between 170 and 190 centimeters tall. The old priest had a warm, affable smile plastered on his face that made it easy to feel relaxed around him. I could also feel a faint trace of heat emanating from his body - but not on a physical level. Interestingly enough, this heat was far more obvious to the eldritch half of my body than the physical half. The heat emanating from the man was conceptual in nature. It also felt surprisingly similar to my own fundamental nature as a being of 'hope', although it was still very different from my eldritch form.

The priest took a look at the crowd of people outside of the gate, and gave the onlookers a friendly nod as he moved towards the center of the crowd.

"Good to see all of you this morning," said the priest. "There are a lot more people here than I was expecting. I can't exactly split myself in half, so I'll need all of you to form a line for me."

The people in the crowd started shuffling into a somewhat organized line with surprisingly little fuss. My father and I ended up near the middle of the line, though we were a bit closer to the back of the line than the front.

The person at the front of the line was even larger than the average person in this town - he stood at nearly 210 centimeters tall. He wasn't quite a giant, but he stood out from the crowd. Since I knew this world had a local System, I wondered whether his unusual height was somehow tied to the System, or whether it was just natural for people in this world to be taller than average.

"Kallum," said the priest. "Good to see you. What do you need from me today?"

"I want more advice on my next spark," said Kallum. "I'm at level 78, so in two levels I'll absorb my fifth spark. I want to review which paths open up with my current set of sparks and see if I want to absorb a compound spark, or stick with a more regular progression path."

The priest nodded. "You took 3 [Berserker] sparks and one [Fire Mage] spark, right?"

"Correct."

"There are no direct combinations of 3 [Berserker] Sparks and 1 [Fire Mage] spark, but if you take a Spark for [Tamer] next, for your sixth spark, you could combine them all to create a [Rider of the Flames] spark, if you have the right Feats for it. I don't remember which ones you took, though."

The two started to talk in more detail about what 'Feats' Kallum had taken, but since I had only awakened a few hours ago, I had zero context for what they were talking about. Instead, as they spoke, I looked at my father in confusion. My confusion was on an even more fundamental point - was Kallum really okay with just talking about his build out in the open like this? I always shared details about my status screen with my friends, but I was also willing to trust Felix, Sallia, and Anise with my life. I was a bit surprised that Kallum was willing to share so much detail with other townsfolk. However, I didn't know how to bring that question up with my father. It would seem odd for a two year old to be so suspicious of the world around her, or at least I suspected it would stick out as strange.

My father didn't seem to pick up on my unspoken question, but he did seem to realize that I was confused by something. He laughed, and patted my head.

"Don't worry, it'll all make sense once you get your first couple sparks. The System might seem strange at first, but most kids adapt to it in no time. It's not that confusing, I promise." My father winked at me. I sighed, and realized that I probably wasn't going to be getting any more information today.

After the priest and Kallum finished discussing and finalizing plans for his next spark, Callum left the church. The next person in line had similar questions, although they were instead planning for their third spark. The person after that had come to get a consultation for his next trait, because he was having a hard time choosing between two options.

The sixth person in line had a more interesting question.

"Are we getting close to another stop? We've been moving for a long time, and food reserves are starting to run low," she said.

The priest nodded. "The ember has shown some signs of slowing down. I was planning to discuss this with the town mayor so that he could make a more formal announcement, but we will probably stop sometime within the next five days. You should expect for a more official announcement from the mayor sometime tomorrow at noon, during the village meet. The warriors will need to be ready for a fight - I think we'll be in for a long stop this time."

The woman who had been asking questions grimaced at the priest's words, and then left. I was left to ponder the relationship between a long stop and a fight on my own.

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Finally, it was my father's turn.

"I'm here to get an update on my daughter's mind and body," said my father. "I want to know if she's ready for her first spark yet. She's showing signs of her mind quickening, and her body has always been very sturdy and strong for her age."

The priest nodded, and then gazed into my eyes for a few seconds. "She does seem like her mind is nearly mature." The priest smiled. "I'll give her a proper test." He turned towards me and flashed another warm, friendly grin at me. "Little Miria, right? Hold out your hand for me, would you?"

I did as the priest requested. He took a hold of my hand, and I felt a surge of heat travel out of his arm and into my body. To the physical half of my body, it felt like the man had just given me a hand warmer - it wasn't too hot, but it felt very strange. To the conceptual half of my body, it felt like someone had just injected me with a jolt of caffeine. I could feel the conceptual half of my body squirm and quiver upon contact with the warm energy from the priest. I got a distinct feeling of oddness as my conceptual side reacted to the priest's energy - it was almost like seeing a long-lost cousin, who looked similar enough to be familiar, but wasn't particularly close.

The priest frowned at me in surprise as the warm energy continued to travel through me, before he shrugged, and then laughed. "Well, there's something a bit odd about her body. I think she might have a trait or two that interferes with my skill. Still, I can definitely feel that she's ready for her first spark. She can absorb one safely." Then, the priest laughed again, and ruffled my hair. "My original stat estimates for you might have actually underplayed your base stats, too, little Miria. You really were born lucky. When you and those other three anomalous kids finish growing, it'll be a golden age for our clan."

Three other kids, all with unusually high stats? I grinned. It was good to know that my friends and I were so highly regarded in this town. That would make things easier in the future. I was also glad to hear that I could finally absorb my first spark. I was eager to try out the local system and see how it worked.

"Do you know what type of spark you want?" the priest asked, dragging me out of my thoughts.

I scratched my head in surprise. I had no idea what kind of spark I wanted. A healer-related spark, maybe? That would line up well with the concept of 'hope' that I was trying to lean into. But I also had no clue if there was any kind of magic healing available here. "What types of spark are there?" I asked.

The priest thought about that question.

"Well, the first thing to keep in mind is that sparks all come from the ember our town follows," said the priest, after several moments of thought. "That means that the sparks available in one town will often be completely different from those in another town. Most embers can produce at least five different types of spark, though the number can vary wildly. More powerful embers can sometimes produce hundreds, or even thousands of different types of spark, while some can only produce two or three. It's also important to remember that as you grow stronger, you start to get the option to combine different kinds of spark, instead of absorbing new ones. That won't be relevant until your third spark, though, at the absolute earliest.

"Our ember can produce seven different types of spark: a fire magic related spark, a balanced physique enhancing spark called the 'balanced athlete' spark, a tamer spark, a berserker spark, a priest spark, a frost mage spark, and an apothecary spark. Every single spark will allow you to get all sorts of enhancements to your chosen path, and will make you much stronger over time," said the priest. "But you have to be careful. Once you choose a spark, you can't change your mind until you level up enough to absorb your second spark - and you might waste a spark and set yourself a spark behind if you decide to focus on one particular combination later on."

I thought about the man's words for a moment. Now that I knew that [Priest] sparks existed, I was willing to bet the person in front of me was using at least one [Priest] spark. It wasn't really compatible with the eldritch half of my body, but it might prove quite interesting for study. I was tempted.

"What do priests do?" I asked.

The man smiled at me. "Priests help other people absorb sparks, predict the movements of the ember, and pass on knowledge and stories from old times. We are the ones who pass the torch along from one generation to the next. If a rare extraplanar visitor appears, we also tend to be in charge of conversing with them. After all, most people strong enough to cross from one plane to another prefer to converse in their native language, and priests are responsible for learning the language of the nearest few planes, just in case we encounter such an important visitor."

I frowned. That… wasn't what I wanted. I had been expecting priests to be focused around healing magic. The idea of conversing with extraplanar visitors did sound quite interesting - after all, the four of us were nowhere near strong enough to cross from one dimension to another using our own strength. It sounded like that at least occasionally happened here, and I was eager to participate. However, the [Priest] still didn't sound quite like what I wanted to do in the future.

"What about apothecaries?" I asked.

"How about this - we're pretty busy today, and your father has already gotten a pretty detailed rundown of what each spark does. I have written down all of the sparks, and all known combinations of sparks in a book we traded for when our spark wandered north a few decades ago. How about I lend it to you, and you look it over, then get back to me in a few days when you figure out what you want? Your father can help elaborate on any questions you have, and if there is a question he can't answer, I will answer it for you next time," said the priest.

I glanced at the crowd of people lined up behind us, and nodded. I really was holding up the line. Most other people had only needed a quick verification of how certain combinations worked, but I needed a detailed, in-depth discussion of every single spark, how combinations worked, and a bunch of other things. I didn't mind getting a quick rundown from my father and coming back tomorrow if I still had questions.

"Thank you for your time," I said.

"I'm always happy to help such a well-behaved child," said the priest. He gave me a final nod before he ran back to a storage room, grabbed a book, gave it to me, and watched us depart from the church.

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