"Lord Rod, Mother Superior Frankie seeks an audience," said a voice.
Rod’s entire face seemed about to split with shock.
Those bulging muscles, that firm jawline, that dense beard; a manlier man than Schwarzenegger himself claiming to be a nun?
Claiming to be a nun was one thing, but wearing a nun’s habit and headpiece too?
The worst part was, he was even wearing black tights, which his muscular elephant legs were nearly bursting out of.
It was absolutely blinding!
Then, something even more blinding happened.
A group of burly nuns wearing habits and stretching black tights with their elephant legs marched toward him, lined up in a row, and kneeled in unison while proclaiming loudly,
"Healing Cult, Nineteenth Nun Group, at your service, Lord Rod!"
Honestly, Rod almost threw up.
He initially suspected Horus was messing with him on purpose, but he quickly remembered something.
As a core member of the Healing Cult, which handled most of the medical duties of the Royal City—the qualification to become a Healing Nun was to ignite the Soul Trait "Bright Light".
"Bright Light" was a common characteristic, without requirements for lineage, soul, or gender.
Meaning, awakened individuals could be either male or female.
But, according to ancient rules, the Healing Cult designated all members as nuns regardless of their gender.
This led to the existence of male nuns.
They wore the same clothes and did the same jobs as female nuns, and nobody thought there was anything wrong with that.
It had always been this way in Trolian.
Horus was indubitably an old fuddy-duddy; he didn’t understand what young people truly needed, ending up creating such a blinding absurdity.
Rod covered his face, not wanting to speak for the moment.
Mother Superior Frankie and the others were not aware of Rod’s internal turmoil and were still excited to meet the legendary superstar, eagerly awaiting his inspiring speech.
After a moment of silence, Rod sighed deeply inside, lowered his hands, and managed a smile.
"I’m delighted to meet you all, Frankie. You’re much more brawny than I imagined, and I’ve heard the burlier someone is, the stronger their healing ability. You must be the strongest healer, right?"
Frankie’s face lit up with joy, and he slapped his chest, saying, "Of course! I’m one of the thirty-two central medics; even though they don’t believe me, I know I am the best. And you are the only one who sees that! True to the legend of the superhero! With you, we’ll definitely perform at three hundred percent capability."
He turned back and shouted loudly.
The nuns responded in unison, "That’s right, Captain Frankie!"
Their voices were loud and full of masculinity, shaking the dust off the ceiling.
Rod sighed internally but still forced himself to engage energetically in conversation with them, quickly becoming good friends, addressing each other as brothers.
After formally becoming their commander, Rod’s first order of business was to have them all change their outfits, especially those blinding black tights, into brawny man suits.
This finally looked much better.
The second thing was to have them return to the Healing Cult in their new outfits to work.
For now, without any battles, he didn’t need them yet.
Frankie departed with his brothers, highly excited about the upcoming days of fighting alongside Lord Rod.
Meanwhile, Rod, fuming, went back to settle accounts with Horus.
Horus really didn’t grasp what Rod was dissatisfied about, and Rod was too embarrassed to publicly voice his crude criticisms, only requesting Horus assign him combat missions.
But Horus had no such plans and slapped a detailed itinerary in Rod’s hands.
"You have a lot to do. In the coming period, you must finish all the tasks listed on this plan," he stated.
Rod looked down to see the schedule filled with dates to visit various institutions within the Royal City.
The plan was incredibly detailed, even including the appointments he had previously arranged with the Jinwoosi Academy, Scholar Amides, and others.
"You can’t be serious?"
Rod asked with a pained expression.
"Can’t you just let me join a few hunting missions? My big club is starving for action, and I get restless if I don’t kill monsters daily."
Horus said sternly, "No! You’re not going to be just a combatant in the future; you will also have heavy responsibilities within the Royal City. If you don’t understand the city’s various institutions in advance, how will you be qualified for a high-ranking position later?"
Rod sighed. "Can’t I just kill monsters?"
Horus’s expression was more serious than ever.
"One’s power is always limited, but the collective power is much greater than you can imagine. You need to know how to use it to even have a chance at ultimate victory."
Rod frowned, not much liking these problematic tasks but had to admit that Horus had a point.
"Young man," Horus’s tone softened.
"I understand how you feel, but know this — mere killing is not enough; I was once like you, eager to eliminate all the darkness in this world."
"But I later realized clear as day, that it’s impossible."
"Then, I wished for a god omnipotent enough to descend, bring light to us, and fully dispel the darkness."
"But after learning about history, I found that there was never such an entity in this inexorable march through time."
"Since then, I have known that everything depends entirely on us — our hands, our blood, our courage, and our wisdom, to pass on the torch and sustain our civilization, much ."
Horus gently patted Rod’s shoulder.
"Do you know what the most valuable thing about you is?"
Rod shook his head slightly.
"It’s not your strength, nor those bizarre abilities or your potential."
Rod curiously asked, "Then what is it?"
Horus smiled slightly.
"It is the hope you bring to us."
"With hope, we have the possibility to create miracles."
"Later on, you will see what kind of behemoth we truly confront."
"But I firmly believe we will eventually triumph because..."
Horus’s dry smile twinkled with pride.
"Since ancient times, we have been the humans who never yield."