Liu was shocked and found himself speechless for a moment.
This decision was simply too insane! The Bimeng Saint Altar’s apprenticeship had always adhered to a very strict rule since time immemorial - one-to-one succession!
Human mages could recruit several apprentices at once, but Beamon shamans absolutely could not do that because "Wisdom Enlightenment" could only enlighten one apprentice at a time, not a group.
But in reality, each Beamon shaman in their lifetime would recruit more than one apprentice, and it wasn’t uncommon for a shaman to call upon dozens of apprentices over decades. The main reason for the surplus of apprentices was... there was an insurmountable bottleneck for Beamon shamans’ leveling up... "Wisdom Enlightenment" could only turn an ordinary Orc into the lowest-level "Wind Whisperer"... and a "Wind Whisperer" could only learn half of the "Spirit Communion Song," the sole use of which was to soothe the departing souls and send them into the warm embrace of the war god. In Liu’s understanding, a "Wind Whisperer" was essentially a drummer.
Only by evolving from a "Wind Whisperer" to a "Soul Shaman," who could learn a complete "Spirit Communion Song," would a Beamon shaman be truly qualified because only then could they summon magical pets bestowed by the war god and learn the brilliant War Songs of the halo category... Undeniably, although shamans are said to be the walkers of the war god Kampas on earth, their real role is to fully exploit an army’s combat potential, with military utility far outweighing the religious one.
Ten Wolf warriors could easily rout a hundred Doug Tribe warriors, but if a Soul Shaman joined the battle, the outcome would be different. Twenty Wolf warriors would absolutely not be able to overcome a hundred Doug warriors blessed with "Stone Skin Halo," "Strength Halo," and "Agility Halo," not to mention the shaman’s magical pet assisting on the side!
If replaced with a higher-ranking shaman, such as a War Shaman capable of using "Berserk War Song" or a Scepter Shaman who could use an evil halo, the duel would turn into a massacre.
A twenty-thousand-person Bimon Army, if supplied with enough shamans, could outperform an army of a hundred thousand! That is the real utility of the Altar Sacrificial Ceremony!
Those who can become Altar Sacrificial Shamans must be extremely intelligent Beamon, a very strict requirement for Orcs who typically are not very bright. However, becoming a qualified shaman is far beyond just this one requirement... After successfully receiving "Wisdom Enlightenment," if an apprentice fails to advance from a "Wind Whisperer" to a "Soul Shaman" within one year, he will never be able to progress further in this lifetime. In other words, this shaman apprentice has failed because he can only soothe souls, aside from inheriting a bellyful of cultural knowledge for his benefit.
Many high priests spend their lives desperately seeking a suitable apprentice. After going through great lengths to find one, they still need to teach them the second half of the "Spirit Communion Song" within a year. If the apprentice still can’t learn it within a year, they must journey elsewhere to find another. Even if an apprentice successfully completes the advancement, they must be taught more War Songs and continue to progress to even higher ranks!
Life is but a hundred years short, bound by so many requirements, it’s only natural for the shamanistic tradition of one-to-one succession to prevail. After all, a genius like Helen was the only one even among the frequently shaman-producing Fox Tribe.
For Lord Mourinho and a large group of shamans to be so astonished was actually quite normal. Even though Helen had successfully nurtured a Dragon Shaman, Richard, she couldn’t just use "Spirit Communion Song" to recruit new apprentices one after another, could she? Recruiting apprentice shamans was largely a matter of luck; not all intelligent Beamon could become shamans. The current ratio of shamans to warriors in the regular Beamon army was one per battalion, and all the shamans of the five legions combined amounted to just a hundred War Shamans! Given the Bimon Kingdom’s population of six million, can you imagine what this ratio signifies?
Imagine if Helen really went through with it, trying millions, and succeeding with one. Well, Helen would need to teach him the rest of the "Spirit Communion Song" within a year...
Didn’t succeed? Try again...
Finally succeeded? Well, then you’d need to teach the apprentice other War Songs and let them advance to higher ranks... Official source is NoveI(F)ire.net
It’s blatantly obvious that this was simply impossible! If she were to go through with such an ordeal, Helen might as well not do anything else in her life but teach apprentices! If she could produce three to five qualified shamans in her lifetime, the Fox Tribe would be extraordinarily lucky!
"This decision is really too... too..." The Raccoon Priest Deshawn hemmed and hawed without really expressing his point.
"Among the series of Priests, the level of mentors is too low, so when apprentices follow a Higher-order Priest to learn Battle Songs, there are cases where they end up outranking their initial mentors. However, I do not believe that Lady Helen can personally teach hundreds of Soul Priests Battle Songs," stated Lord Treizegar of Caiyu City, frowning. "Our Battle Songs, each contain numerous ancient and tricky musical scales. Even if a mentor and apprentice practice one-on-one tirelessly thousands of times, they may not succeed in learning them. Teaching them on a large scale is frankly a pipe dream!"
Upon hearing Lord Treizegar’s words, both Liu Zhenhan and Lord Mourinho showed sudden enlightenment.
"As everyone here is thinking," said White Tiger Priest Bog Camp with a reserved smile, continuing, "when this proposal was first brought up in the Elders’ Council, one hundred and eight elders and four Quentins had the same doubts as you all."
"I think I know why the Kingdom made this seemingly absurd decision! The tricky musical scales constrain the transmission of Battle Songs, but War Dances don’t have this limitation. The gestures of a War Dance are fixed and are not as elusive and impossible to replicate as musical scales," said Lord Mourinho with a light smile, picking up where the White Tiger Priest left off. "We have all been confined by traditional thoughts for too long. War Dances... hmm... indeed, they have disappeared from history for too long. I propose a toast to this brilliant and constructive idea. I am ashamed that I never thought so far ahead... Dennis, was this suggestion made by Brut under your leadership?"
A single statement awakened everyone as from a dream.
All present had been immersed in Battle Songs for years and had locked their method of conducting sacrifices into Battle Songs. Now, suddenly reminded that Helen was a Priest who naturally evolved a War Dance, everyone had a moment of realization.
What is a War Dance? The War Dance is a translation; as long as Helen knows Battle Songs, she could express them all through her dance moves, without the tricky Dragon Language scales or the complex Elves’ syllables. Everything would be the most intuitive language of form and movement!
"God of War above!" exclaimed the Koala Bear Priest Remel, rolling his eyes in disbelief before saying, "Who came up with this genius conception? Kampas! Surely, no one in the Holy Temple could possibly have broken out of this vicious cycle, I swear!"
"It was His Majesty Grecke Sal who made this proposal after Brut under his command reported Helen’s capability. Our King..." White Tiger Priest Bog Camp raised his eyebrows and spread his hands.
"I would like to ask Lord Richard, how many Battle Songs does your mentor, Lady Helen, know now?" asked Medusa Elder Horielle to Liu Zhenhan.
All eyes were on Liu Zhenhan.
"When I finished teaching Helen a while ago, she had already learned ’Agility,’ ’Stone Skin,’ ’Endurance,’ ’Poison Resistance,’ ’Berserk,’ ’Blessing,’ ’Spirit Communion,’ ’Endurance’... among the Brilliant Aura Battle Songs," recounted apprentice Cui Beixi methodically.
Wow~! Murmurs of astonishment filled the room.
"...as well as ’Weaken,’ ’Sluggish,’ ’Dizziness,’ ’Strength Absorption’ from the Evil Aura Battle Songs, and ’Unknown Creature Detection,’ ’Dispel,’ ’Lightning Shield’ from the Neutral Aura War Songs," the Serpent Mage continued. "Other than ’Soul Chain,’ ’Sacrifice,’ and a few other Evil Aura Battle Songs, I have almost nothing left to teach her. To be responsible for Helen, I have even prepared to request that all twelve High Priests from the temple teach Helen together, in order not to waste her talent."
Another wave of astonishment swept through.