"You are still young, and there is plenty of ti. Let yourselves take a break," the Bishop said, his words unexpected. He then crossed his arms over his chest. "May the Holy Mother bless your journey."
The three imdiately stood up, returned the courtesy, and left the room.
As the three walked out, the Priest at the door was still waiting for them.
Seeing them exit, he said, "Please follow . I will arrange a place for you to rest and introduce you to this Twin Great Cathedral."
The three nodded and did not refuse. After all, their main intention in coming here was to gain more understanding of the Endless Sea.
The door slowly closed.
The Bishop stood in the center of the living room, hands clasped behind his back, lost in thought.
"After all these years, new mbers have finally erged from the Holand Sea. This is truly a joyous occasion, isn’t it?"
A voice suddenly ca from the corner. A figure had been standing there all along, apparently unnoticed.
Upon hearing this voice, the Bishop, who had been dazed, turned his head to look at him.
"So, you were peeking from that corner. Did you see anything?"
"Peeking? I was standing there in plain sight. Others simply didn’t notice ."
"Alright, suit yourself. However, your disguise earlier clearly wasn’t good enough; you were discovered, haha," the Bishop couldn’t help but say, a hint of schadenfreude in his voice.
"Indeed, it was quite surprising. That young man nad Alka actually spotted . An impressive young man."
"Of course. He is a natural believer of the Holy Mother, a Favored One of the Holy Mother."
At this point, the Bishop suddenly sighed.
"I just don’t understand why these three are shrouded in such an ancient, heavy aura. It exudes sorrow and ill on, which is clearly not a good sign."
"You’ve seen many like this, haven’t you? This godforsaken place is never short of passionate young people like them. We should be glad," the man hidden in the corner said.
"Certainly. But they are too young. They possess strength and talent. Knowing the truth of the world too early always leads such children to extres."
The Bishop remarked with so lant.
"They haven’t forsaken the Holy Mother. They are still rational, so there’s no need to worry excessively. Your old anxieties are acting up again."
"Is that so? Perhaps. I’ve seen too many children fall into extremism after learning the truth. They carry too much, burdens not ant for their current stage... Sigh."
"...Yes. However, as Favored Ones, they always possess unique qualities. Rest assured. Do you still not trust the Holy Mother’s judgnt?"
...
Alka and the other two followed the Priest as they wandered through the Great Cathedral.
Eventually, he led the three of them to a lounge area and arranged rooms for them.
"For tonight, rest here for now."
"Thank you."
The three thanked him and returned to their assigned suite.
It featured a central living room surrounded by four bedrooms.
The three of them sat on the living room sofa.
Xuan, who had been on Alka’s shoulder, stirred, hopped down, and began to wander around the living room.
"Just now... while we were talking, did either of you notice soone else standing in the corner of that room?"
"?"
Chadite and Jason looked at Alka, completely bewildered.
"Are you... telling a ghost story?" Jason asked uncertainly.
Alka glanced at him helplessly.
He explained, "Earlier, there was soone in the corner of the room. He was using so unknown concealnt technique, but I could still see him clearly. He looked to be in his thirties or forties, quite ordinary in appearance, but he was wearing Church robes, so I didn’t say anything."
"If that’s true, why was he hiding there?"
Alka shook his head. "I don’t know. But he just stood there by the wall, as if listening to a story. His gaze didn’t feel malicious; otherwise, Jason would have sensed it by now."
Alka rely ntioned it, however, and didn’t speculate further with the others. After all, this was soone else’s territory. Blindly speculating without knowing anything could only bring harm to themselves. As long as there was no malice, there was no need to worry about anything else.
"I never expected the Church to actually have a way to quickly cross between the two sides. Chadite, do you really have no recollection of it?" Jason leaned back on the sofa, then turned his head towards Chadite to ask.
Chadite shook her head. "I was too young back then, and my mind wasn’t on studying at all. We’d get a new teacher every so often; who could rember all of them? Only soone like Gami, who was a good student from a young age, would rember all those teachers who ca and went."
Hearing this, the other two nodded without further questioning.
Alka leaned on the sofa, pondering.
If the Church only has one Archbishop, then the apparent weakness of the Archbishop of the Great Cathedral would make sense. He only appeared weak in that particular sea region. Take the Bishop they just saw, for instance. Although his exact strength is unknown, I was certain he was at least Fifth Stage, possibly even higher, and the likelihood wasn’t small. In the Dream World, my strength is almost at Fourth Stage Perfection. I’ve already confird my level of strength within the Dream Realm. And even so, I could clearly sense that the Bishop we had just encountered possessed strength that surpassed my own in the Dream World. Moreover, the person hiding in the corner also possessed considerable strength. In fact, he felt even more dangerous. It was just that, for so reason, I easily saw through his concealnt technique. Perhaps it was because my spirit was overwhelmingly powerful. If I hadn’t realized Chadite and the others seed unaware of this person’s presence, I might have given myself away right then. Hmm... perhaps I already have.
"Do you think there’s a chance we could go back through the Church’s passage?" Chadite asked from the side.
"It should be possible," Alka replied, though he wasn’t sure. Logically, with their qualifications, it shouldn’t be a problem, but he didn’t know what the chanism for it was. They would have to ask later.
After chatting for a while, Alka nodded at Xuan, signaling for it to send a ssage to those on the ship. He had Xuan tell them that the three of them wouldn’t be returning tonight and would be resting in the Church. They would et on the ship tomorrow evening.
After Xuan sent the ssage, each of them casually found a suitable room and went inside to rest.
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