"Hey, you! Stop there! Who the hell are you? How did you get into the church’s boundary?"
Myne had barely stepped out of the alley between the big building and enclosing walls and hadn’t even had time to check his surroundings when he was surrounded by three heavily armoured guards pointing their sharp spears at his face.
Feeling the guards’ murderous intent, which made it clear they were in no mood for conversation and were eager to kill him the moment he spoke something they didn’t want to hear, Myne didn’t know what to say.
"Forget it," Myne shook his head, activating the Ethereal Phase skill and disappearing from the guards’ astonished eyes.
"Damn it, quickly ring the bell! An intruder has escaped. Also, notify the captain. Tell him there’s a space mage of unknown origin wandering around our territory and may have even entered the church," One of the three guards, seemingly the leader, hurriedly instructed his teammates.
"But what about you?" The second guard couldn’t digest that they were working while the third one trying to be their boss, asked with a frown.
"I’ll check the basement. This mage seems to have come from there. Don’t forget that Bishop Jekal’s daughter is in the basement. If something happens to her, we won’t be able to save our heads," The third guard replied urgently, then without waiting for a response, he sprinted toward the basement.
The other two guards exchanged guilty glances, realizing they had misunderstood their companion’s intentions, and quickly went to carry out their tasks.
"So this bastard Jekal is becoming the wall between me and Finn, huh? Seems like I’ll have to come up with a good plan to ruin his image and give Finn a shoulder during her difficult time. Only then can I successfully steal her heart and find a reliable backer in this cold, scary world," Myne muttered, still standing in his original spot, having overheard the guards’ conversation.
He then walked forward into the garden, admiring the giant church-like building. The structure, built from random stones found nearby, was grand and ornate, with significant effort put into its architectural beauty. Numerous people in black robes were constantly going in and out of the church, seemingly very busy.
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"I see," Myne muttered, narrowing his eyes. "Now I remember where I’ve seen something like this before. These are people from that weird world (Chapter 541) where the Church of Pain exists, whose one of the bastards kidnaps June, and most people are weirdos who wear long robes and like to torture themselves to gain their god’s favour..."
"After getting beaten to death (Chapter 545), I seem to have postponed my plan of exploring that world. But this group of people doesn’t seem to be from the Church of Pain, otherwise, the basement wouldn’t be so clean, and they’d care more about the lives of commoners."
Maybe they’re from another church, after all, there couldn’t possibly be only one church in the entire world, Myne thought as he walked out of the church and into the bustling street filled with people of various races and clothing styles. There were no proper shops, only various stalls, and most people were sitting on the ground, selling their products randomly on their own. Also, the exchange of goods or services between people was going on without using any money, they used products in exchange for equal-value products.
The houses were made of stone but didn’t seem to be individual properties. Instead, they were more like complex living spaces where many people lived together, with strict gender segregation. Men ( right ) and women ( left ) lived in separate houses on opposite sides of the street.
The church was at the centre, surrounded by the houses, and was enclosed by a six-meter-high wall, resembling a small fortress. Guards patrolled everywhere, maintaining order. There were also many guards stationed on top of the walls, armed with bows and arrows.
However, there were no entertainment facilities like bars, taverns, or brothels for the poor to relax. They were simply treated like animals, expected to work, eat, sleep, and repeat the cycle until their death.
Of course, this didn’t apply to the people in black robes and the guards, who were the privileged class. They lived in the houses on the left side with the women. They didn’t have to toil like beasts in the mines or forests, digging for iron, gathering stones, or cutting down trees.
Myne, having gained a clear understanding of the situation, used the short-term floating ability of the Ethereal Phase skill to rise high into the sky. The church was located at the edge of a forest, and two kilometres to the west was an endless black sea... Yes, not blue, but a truly inky black sea. In all other directions, the church was surrounded by endless forests.
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Hundreds of people could be seen cutting trees and gathering stones in the forests, but no one was near the sea, as if they had no desire to explore it at all.
"If I’m in the same dimension as before, then why isn’t this area’s day and night clearly divided? After all, those muscular, hairy weirdos’ area was clearly fixed at daytime, while those pale-skinned ones were active at nighttime without any changes. But what about this area?" Myne had barely finished his thought when he noticed something in the sky that instantly cleared all his doubts.
In broad daylight, a beam of suspicious light streaked across the high sky with lightning speed. Along with it, as if someone had pulled a curtain, the magically bright sky disappeared, replaced by a dark sky with a bloody red moon hanging above his head.
"F*ck!" This was the only word that escaped Myne’s lips, leaving him speechless.
"Although I have to admit that it was quite cool, what the f*ck is this? How can day and night change so quickly?" Myne stared at the dark sky with a dumbfounded expression. Before he could ponder further, he felt a burning sensation beneath his feet. With a flash of bright light, when he opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on the bed in his home, with both Aisha and Sylphy hugging him like koalas.
Did I just die like that? Sigh, clone bodies are too fragile. Although exploring the unknown world with them is safe, it also has significant drawbacks. I can’t do a lot of things... Forget it, I’ll think about it tomorrow. For now, I’ll just get some sleep, Myne thought and was about to close his eyes when he remembered his third clone.
That clone was locked in the prison of those pale-skinned people. Although he had told the clone to inform him if something happened, he’d forgotten one critical detail—how was the clone supposed to do that? Unless the clone destroyed itself, there was no way to remotely communicate with the main body. Only Myne could share his consciousness with them.
Thankfully, he decided to check. When he entered his clone’s body, the other party was already being interrogated by two people. One was, of course, the red-haired babe who had captured him earlier. The other was a middle-aged man with white hair, dressed in luxurious clothes, and adorned with golden rings on every finger of his hands.
"Dirty rat, this is the last time I am asking you. Tell me the true purpose of your invading our territory and who sent you here. My patience is running out, and your silence will only make things worse for you," The white-haired man spoke coldly and snapped his fingers.
Suddenly, ten ball-sized red orbs, looking as though made of blood, floated out of his pocket. The balls exploded and transformed into liquid, gathering together. Soon, they took the shape of finger-sized sharp needles before getting solidify, at just a glance, could make anyone’s blood run cold.
Fifty or so bloody red needles surrounded Myne’s poor body on the ground, ready to teach him how to behave.
"Stop! Stop! I’ll say it, but first, can I ask you something?" Myne quickly raised both hands in a surrender motion. However, he hesitated and then asked cautiously, "It’s not anything big, I just wanted to confirm something... Please, it’ll only take a few seconds."
The middle-aged man’s face darkened as though Myne had asked for his daughter’s virtue. Seeing this, Myne quickly tried to explain, "No! It’s nothing inappropriate. I just want to confirm something—please!"
"Bark!" The man spoke in a heavy voice.
"Does your people can also see the three-day countdown in the lower-right corner of your vision?"
"Yes! Do you know what it means? We also received a notification from a mysterious being. It said that after the countdown ends, something horrific will awaken, and we must be prepared for it," The red-haired lady behind the man replied with an anxious look on her beautiful face. Clearly, she was desperate to know more about it.