Holding

Essien’s main weakness was his lack of power. He needed to be the pope of the Church of Valour at minimum to influence history, and even then realising his wishes would only be a mild possibility. Popes were normally level 18, in order to suppress the cardinals who ranged from level 16 to 17. Level 17 high priests could possible become popes, barely containing their cardinals, but that was the limit. Even level 16 would be too far-fetched, and after their fight Richard knew the priest would be lucky to get to even 15.

Even more important was that Essien had secretly conducted research into the taboo of planes and spacetime, so Neian didn’t favour him as much as he would otherwise, stumping his growth. Thus, this priest who had pried open the door to the mysteries...