I Became The Pope, Now What?
chapter-228

"What's Dual Cultivation?" Sylvester asked as he heard the term for the first time.

"It is beneficial to you as well, Sylvester. That's why it's called Dual cultivation. It's the art of training together with the aim to only push the opponent's magic without hurting each other. What's the one thing that makes us wizards and knights stronger? It's to push oneself beyond the limit.

"So, we will spar with each other continuously, non-stop, no matter how exhausted we get. Unless we're so tired that we faint, we must keep on sparing and using our best moves that are strong enough to push the other side while ensuring we don't kill the other party. We will try to defend against each other's attacks—no scheming involved. Usually, Dual Cultivation only works if the two sides are of equal level, but I know you have a few moves that can harm me too."

Sylvester didn't really have another option than to do this. So he agreed, hoping it would help with his own training as well. "Alright then, let's get to it."

He glanced at Miraj and went to pick him up. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to see the girl. "Amy, come with me. We will first practice and get stronger and then return to defeat that big bad monster."

"Really? Yes! He's sitting in my home. I can't go in and find mum if he's there," she chirped and flew around Sylvester.

Lady Aurora, meanwhile, shook her head, finding the conversation with an invisible ghost creepy when she couldn't see the girl. "You are one strange man, Sylvester. Every time I'm with you, something strange happens. You are the magnet for trouble."

"It's just a game of fate, Lady Aurora. I have no control over what I come across. All I can hope is that I can overcome whatever it may be. Let's go and start the training then."

They made their way back toward the monastery instead of spending time near the new restricted zone. Though slowly, all the damage Sylvester and Lady Aurora had caused to the mist was being recovered, so they knew they'd have to return soon enough to ensure the mist didn't spread out again.

"What happened? Did you defeat it?" Isabella asked them as they returned.

Sylvester knew that Lady Aurora didn't want to reveal her power level to others, so he took over, "I'm afraid we will have to call help from the Holy Land. The demon is too strong for us. Perhaps, the Pope can do something—or maybe a few more Guardians coming together will solve it."

"B-But, my lord… how are we to keep the bodies of all these men, women, and children safe? We already saw that the degradation has started. The Inquisitors can surely survive for a month in a coma, but the normal villagers will die in a few more days," General Arnold addressed the most pressing concerns.

Sylvester had not thought about it initially as he was too occupied. But now that he did, they were indeed in a mess. At least three thousand villagers and five thousand Inquisitors were in a coma. The Inquisitors would mostly live. But if nothing was done, all the villagers would die.

'I can't even use the solarium crystals on them. First of all, getting so many of them would be expensive. Not to mention, they may end up killing the villagers since their bodies are fragile to solarium imbalance,' Sylvester rubbed his chin as he thought about a way to at least get the people to live until Lady Aurora levelled up.

"How many blacksmiths and Bright Mothers do we have, General?" Sylvester inquired about a very strange combination of professions for sure.

"Blacksmiths? Maybe five; the rest of them are in a coma. As for Bright mothers, since it's a village Monastery, they have merely two local Bright Mothers. What are you planning, Lord Bard?" General asked.

Isabella and Lady Aurora also stared at Sylvester's face, for they had been together with him long enough to know he was coming up with some crazy but revolutionary idea.

Sylvester fell silent and closed his eyes to think in focus. At the same time, he started to take off his golden armour and cape since he wouldn't be fighting anytime soon.

'The villagers are no different from normal humans. Any person that's not a wizard or knight is just a normal bag of meat with an average lifespan of sixty years, prone to injuries and disease. Modern means should work on them, but I can't create things as good as they were in the past life. I lack the industrial hardware for it.'

"What are you thinking, Sylvester? If you need any help, just tell me." Lady Aurora spoke in her kind voice.

"Water, that's the most important thing for the human body," Sylvester started speaking, "Without food, people can survive a month or two. But without water, not even a week. We will need to feed water to these people in the comatose state. Of course, we can't feed them through their mouths. So, General, send your men to nearby towns, villages, and even the Magic City and Yggdrasil School of Magic. Bring as many blacksmiths, glassmakers, healers, and Bright Mothers as you can."

"To do what, my lord?"

"To feed the solution of water & salt directly into the blood of those fallen to the demon. Preach that the Lord's Bard is here, and remind them of their solemn duties as faithfuls. But we need the people as quickly as possible," he ordered, with no scope for failure.

No one knew what he was about to do or make. But the General followed the order, as was his duty. "I will send the summons, Lord Bard. I hope your methods work out."

"They likely will."

'As long as I can make it,' Sylvester thought.

The plan was simple—make needles to administer the saline in the body. But he also needed to make glass bottles and thin tubes. He was going to use sheepskin for tubes since things like PVC or such materials were impossible to make quickly.

For the needles, he could easily use fire magic to get the thin steel sheets turned into pipes. After that, all that was needed was to cold press the pipes to make them stretch out and become thin before cutting them. He needed to make many of them as reusing a single one could transmit deadly disease and create more trouble than help.

"What are you cooking in that big brain of yours, Sylvester?" Lady Aurora asked. She was not mocking but genuinely interested.

"Let's go to the open fields and start training. I will explain things while we're at it. Isabella, you also got nothing to do here, so come with us. Maybe you will learn a thing or two about microbiology." He walked away with the armour neatly folded together. He usually kept it in Miraj's belly, but that could only be done privately.

Not to mention, he had the little ghost of Amy following behind, always playing and talking with Miraj. She was talking non-stop about her life, her family, and how much she loved her parents. But, of course, all that was putting a nail in Sylvester's heart since he knew the truth.

Soon, they arrived at a location away from the village. Sylvester and Lady Aurora stood apart as this was not hand-to-hand combat. All they were supposed to do was stand in one place and defend against the opponent's magical attack.

"I will go first. After that, you may assess how strong my attack is and calibrate your moves accordingly," Sylvester shouted, "I don't know how effective it will be on you. So I won't use a full-powered Wrath of Heaven. Okay?"

Lady Aurora showed a thumbs-up from a distance.

"Here goes nothing," Sylvester put his palm forward near the chest and spoke a little hymn from the old times.

Boom!

It was evening, and the sun was a few hours away from setting. So in that dim light, Sylvester's beam of pure light struck out beautifully. The ghost girl, Amy, was cheering beside him—calling it pretty.

Though across the distance, Lady Aurora stood firmly with her feet strongly planted on the ground. She put her hands in front of herself and prepared to block the strike with a firm Earth wall.

Boom!

Grrrr!

"Good god, I never knew it was this strong," She was in awe while being pushed back a little as her feet got dragged. But she wasn't breaking any sweat from a small attack. Though she did realise that the beam of light was digging through the earth wall.

So she quickly used multiple water runes and started to destroy the beam of light by expanding all the energy that was available in it.

"Still not dying? What is this made of?"

Though she felt the light was slowly getting weaker. So, this time she decided to use her bare arms and push her body to rank up at least. Of course, she was not stupid enough to allow that light to touch her skin. No, she used electricity instead. It covered her arms with an invisible electric field.

Bzzz!

Sparks flew around when she finally stood face to face against the large beam of light, seemingly attacking like a dragon just wanting to plough through.

Over time, she was able to withstand it as the energy in Sylvester's attack died down. In total, it took Lady Aurora a full thirty seconds to fend it off.

"Sylvester! Get ready! I will be sending you a bolt of lightning, horizontal from my direction!" Lady Aurora shouted to give a heads-up.

Sylvester also dug his feet into the ground and prepared to fend off the attack. 'She's so strong… I don't know if I can even withstand her 'weak' attacks.'

"Here I go!" She roared.

Sylvester didn't waste a moment and created a small circular hand-held shield of solidified light magic. It was his strongest element, after all. And pushing its limits was beneficial to him as he one day wished to use solidified light as a personal all-purpose tool that could take the form of anything he could imagine.

Bzzz!

A single, thick bolt of lightning zoomed toward Sylvester. He expectantly prepared for it and let it strike his light shield that shined in white light and appeared invisible—as fragile as glass.

He gritted his teeth and took a long breath. 'Let's see what you've got.'

Boom!

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APE TOGETHER STRONG!