Chapter 1480 The Testing Ground <TOC> Chapter 1482 A Mysterious Passage
Translator: SumTLMan
When Angel initially constructed the Gateway Model, he sensed the involvement of illusionary energy. However, when the Gateway Model was first formed, it was purely for spatial displacement. Angel thought it wouldn’t be affected by the illusionary energy.
Surprisingly, the impact appears here.
Saying it’s an impact might not be entirely accurate. At least in Angel’s opinion, the balance between spatial energy, special energy, and illusionary energy is quite perfect, with special energy being the primary element.
If illusionary energy hadn’t been involved, perhaps something essential would have been missing.
What Angel is most eager to confirm now is what effect will appear on the gateway when illusionary energy is involved? Will the gateway become ostentatious due to the illusion? Or perhaps create a plethora of illusions around it?
As Angel speculates, the outline of the gateway becomes increasingly distinct and profound.
As the gateway materializes, Angel can feel a subtle bond forming between the special energy in the Gateway Model’s Spell Position and the emerging gateway.
This special energy acts like a tether, tightly linking Angel with the gateway.
The appearance of this bond causes the special energy originally covering the Gateway Model to rapidly contract. However, this contraction doesn’t signify reduction. Angel can sense that the special energy is still maintaining a balanced state. It should be able to cover the Gateway Model again in the future, but the time required for that can only be tested after this experiment.
Assured that the special energy will expand again, Angel no longer concerns himself with the matters of the Spell Position, focusing intently on the gateway before him.
The external shape of this gateway almost completely mirrors the Gateway Model on the Spell Position. However, while the model on the Spell Position is made up of countless runes, the gateway before him is formed from numerous glowing lines intertwined with each other.
There’s a sense of beauty in the interwoven lines.
What caught Angel’s attention the most was the entrance. Instead of a physical gateway, there was a thin layer of luminous mist.
Angel sensed that the three types of energy he had previously perceived were all present in this glowing mist, with a particular kind of energy being dominant.
He felt a profound connection between himself and the gateway before him, yet he was still uncertain about what lay behind it.
Taking a deep breath, Angel knew he had come to test the capabilities of this gateway, and there was no turning back now.
Without any hesitation, Angel took a step forward and walked into the luminous mist.
…
Alex followed his adoptive father into the Church of Kruja.
The church was said to have stood in the town for over two hundred years. It had its heyday, but due to the absence of any miracles, the congregation dwindled, causing the church to fall into disrepair. The decline was exacerbated in recent years when the path to the Holy City was severed, preventing the arrival of clerics, leading to further dilapidation of the church.
Now, only Alex, Father Bertrand, and Sister Tessa, who toiled daily in the garden, remained.
Father Bertrand, the man who adopted Alex, was now over seventy and no longer as vigorous in body or mind as he once was. Sister Tessa was also past sixty.
This meant the upkeep of the entire church fell squarely on Alex’s shoulders.
Even with Alex’s best efforts, the church could not be properly maintained, lending it a somewhat dreary appearance. The colored papers on the windows had turned yellow, and the Father God carving on the top of the church had not been cleaned for years due to the lack of a ladder.
As Alex looked up at the grimy, mottled face of the Father God carving, he could no longer see traces of compassion. Instead, he felt an emerging sense of foreboding and terror.
“Alex, looking directly into the eyes of the Father God is an act of irreverence,” Bertrand chastised.
“I was just thinking…” Alex paused, seemingly at a loss for words.
After a long silence, under Bertrand’s watchful gaze, he softly said, “Why has the Father God never graced us with his presence?”
Bertrand, saying nothing, shakily reached into his worn, bleached robe and retrieved a sacred text. Holding it to his chest, he closed his eyes and intoned, “Father God above, please forgive this lost child. He has yet to be baptized and thus cannot glimpse Your mercy. Your humble follower will spend the rest of his life leading him from confusion to enlightenment.”
Afterwards, Bertrand mumbled a few teachings of the Father God and opened his eyes to look at Alex.
Bertrand remained silent, but his quiet gaze exerted pressure on Alex, who couldn’t help but lower his head.
“Alex, you’re questioning the Father God,” Bertrand spoke with stern undertones. “That’s even more disrespectful than looking directly at Him.”
“I know I was wrong,” Alex admitted, avoiding Bertrand’s gaze.
Bertrand responded, “Acknowledging your mistake is good. But I hope when you ponder questions, you start from the Holy Scriptures.”
Alex actually wanted to argue. The rules in the Holy Scriptures were too rigid and inflexible; if one based one’s thoughts on them, it would stifle one’s thinking. You’d end up like Sister Tessa, naively and foolishly tending to flowers in the garden all day long.
However, Alex said nothing in rebuttal and simply bowed his head in compliance.
Bertrand looked at Alex and softly sighed, “I know you have many doubts, but doubt is a cage that entraps the mortal heart. When you become a true priest, you will understand; Father God will surely answer all your questions. Thus, your current doubts are unnecessary.”
“And besides, I’ve grown old and will soon return to the kingdom of our Father God. Only you can take over the Church of Kruja. How can I entrust it to you when you question the divine?” Bertrand said, his voice tinged with sorrow.
Alex’s face flushed with guilt. “I was wrong.”
Bertrand sighed deeply, “Ever since I brought you back to the church without your memories, I’ve noticed that you don’t fit in. Why don’t you try to integrate? After all, you’ll live here for a long time as a priest.”
Alex bowed his head in acceptance, but his thoughts were far away.
Bertrand was about to continue his admonishment when the church’s main door swung open.
A middle-aged woman, her waist wrapped in cloth and dressed in a black skirt, entered the church, her voice choked with soft sobs.
The woman, her eyes red, glanced at Bertrand and Alex, stifled a cry, and tears rolled down her cheeks like a string of pearls.
Bertrand looked at her, his eyes filled with pity.
The middle-aged woman sobbed breathlessly. After a long while, she heard a rustling noise in front of her and looked up to see a white-haired young man extending his slender hand, offering her a handkerchief.
“Is that you, Alex… Where is Father Bertrand?” The woman took the handkerchief and looked around the church but saw no one else.
“Father Bertrand has gone to the cemetery. He said he wanted to personally conduct the final rites for Sir Reven. I’m here to console you,” Alex’s eyes filled with sympathy.
Hearing the name of Sir Reven, the middle-aged woman froze for a moment, and tears once again flowed from her eyes.
“My Reven, my Reven, how could you abandon your mother…” She cried out in despair.
“Lady Connie, I understand the sorrow in your heart over the loss of your son. Voicing your inner turmoil might bring you some relief,” said Alex as he guided Connie toward a confessional tucked away on one side of the church.
Staggering as if her soul had departed due to her son’s demise, Connie followed Alex without a word.
Originally, the confessional had been constructed of crimson wooden panels. Yet, as time passed, the red paint began to peel away, revealing the dark wood underneath. The gradient shift between red and black gave an illusion similar to dripping blood.
Eager to unburden herself, Connie entered the confessional and began pouring out her sorrows.
Sitting on the other side, Alex listened quietly.
Knight Reven had been a part of the town’s knight brigade, regularly patrolling Ghust Town. Alex had met him once and remembered him as a very sunny young man.
However, Knight Reven was now dead, and what’s more, his body couldn’t even be located. All that remained was his skull.
It had been found hanging on a stone bridge pier about six miles from town, on the road leading to the Holy City.
Clearly, this was not a natural death.
But Knight Reven wasn’t the first to die in such a mysterious manner in the town. Since Alex had been brought to Ghust Town by Bertrand three years prior, seventeen such cases had occurred by his own count.
In each case, only the skull was left — everybody had vanished.
Up until now, this string of unsolved mysteries continued to haunt the town, casting a dark shadow over Ghust Town. Nobody knew who the culprit was.
After Lady Connie had emptied her heart of its relentless sorrow and despair, Alex lit a votive candle for her, spoke some comforting words, and then escorted her out of the church.
As Lady Connie was about to leave, Alex asked, “Is Miss Fanny’s birthday coming up soon?”
Connie paused for a moment, “I’m not close with Fanny, so I don’t know. But Reven did mention it before, so it seems so. Why do you ask?”
Alex smiled, “Just curious, no other reason.”
After seeing Connie off, Alex returned to the interior of the church. He pushed open the door to the confessional and walked in.
He sat quietly inside, pondering various issues.
After an indeterminate amount of time, Alex suddenly looked up towards a particular direction above him and said, “I don’t know why Father Bertrand and Lady Connie can’t see you.”
“But I can see you.”
“I really want to know why you’ve been following me all day. And, who are you?”
From the direction Alex was looking, there appeared to be nothing.
However, if you could see from Alex’s own perspective, a blond young man, who looked to be about his own age, was floating there.
Chapter 1480 The Testing Ground <TOC> Chapter 1482 A Mysterious Passage