Chapter 46 – Holy Heavens Church and Heavens Piercing Thrust

The smirking youth twitches his fingers, "10 gold thanks".

Jack withdraws 10 gold coins from his storage ring before dropping them on the table, the youth slowly picks them up counting them and checking to ensure they're legit coins, he slowly counts aloud "1…. 2….. 3...".

"10, you get to have one try" the youth grins at Jack as though he's looking at easy money as he starts to roll the cup around on the table.

Jack's eyes watch the youth shove the cup back and forth causing the dice to rattle against the table and cup numerous times, after several seconds of this the youth stops the dice before Jack and takes his hand off.

"What are they?" The youth asks retaining his smirk.

Jack closes his eyes and releases his senses but isn't able to feel anything except the many people around him, he calms his mind and probes further as thread of divine sense comes out of his mind.

This thread of divine sense is similar to the one allowing him to always sense the small clump of dirt but it's much smaller and weaker, as though it was just newly created and needs time to develop but he concentrates and uses it to peer under the cup.

Jack smiles as he is able to sense what's under the cup, almost as if he can see it and smiles toward the youth enunciating the numbers, "2 and 5" very clearly.

The small crowd gathered around watching the show of someone getting scammed have a bitter smile on their face, while the youth has retained his smirk as he flips over the cup, "Sorry the numbers are…. 2 and..."

The crowd and the youth have a shocked expression as they read the final number, before the youth yells, "You cheated!".

"The numbers are clearly 2 and 5, you said that if I can guess the numbers I get to pick my prize so I'll be taking that technique crystal and everyone in the crowd can be witness to this" Jack signals to the crowd but they all look away before leaving the area.

Jack shakes his head upon seeing everyone leaving, "Besides How can I cheat?" Jack quickly grabs the crystal sitting out in the open and stores it away in his storage ring, the youth was unable to keep up with his movements before grabbing the sword.

"No one has ever been able to get the numbers correct, you must have cheated!" the youth yells.

"Who's cheating in our market place?" a loud yell can be heard coming from the distance, Jack can feel several gazes cast on his back.

Not wanting to stay in the area Jack turns around to leave as there's no more talking to this youth, he doesn't feel like he cheated as it's one of his abilities just like how if you were able to precisely calculate via sound how it rolled it's not cheating, being able to sense through the cup is similar.

Sounds of the crowd shuffling behind Jack can be heard as several other youths are quickly approaching Jack's position.

A hand reaches for Jack's left shoulder while another goes for his right arm but Jack walks faster and dodges the hands reaching for him before breaking into a run, he doesn't want to get caught up in something like this.

"STOP HIM!" a loud yell from the distance incites more yells.

"He stole from the Yellow Snake chapel!" a yell can be heard from another direction; a man is pointing towards Jack's position.

Jack tries to follow the crowd but he finds himself separated and surrounded on multiple sides by people wearing black robes with the symbol of a yellow snake on them, each have their hand on the sword by their side.

"Friend, you need to return the goods you stole and apologize for cheating" an older youth is seen stepping forward from the crowd surrounding Jack.

"I didn't cheat now move aside" Jack retorts while standing his ground.

"This market place is controlled by the Yellow Snake Chapel and if we need to detain you to discover how you cheated, we will" the older youth signals to all the others surrounding Jack to draw their weapons.

"I don't care what the Yellow Snake Chapel is and I don't care if you want to detain me, you won't have that option" Jack smiles before his figure disappears, the youths aren't able to track his movements but Jack used bunny dash to jump up to roof top before jumping a couple of streets down in quick succession.

The people surrounding Jack are left in a daze, they weren't able to follow his movements and it's as if he just disappeared.

"Was that… was that a saint?" one of the youths looks into the sky.

"Arnold, what did he take?" the older youth that was speaking asks the one running the dice game stall.

"He took that technique crystal we couldn't open up…"

"Why would you even bring that out idiot?" the older youth's face turns into a scowl.

"No one wanted to play for the sword and that crystal had been sitting around for a long time"

"Idiot, if someone finds that crystal on him…" the older youth stops speaking.

"Sorry elder brother, I will solve the problem"

They continue to stand there talking for some time, the marketplace returns to its previous hustle and bustle as though nothing serious happened and it's a common occurrence.

Jack has jumped a few streets down by using the bunny dash skill where he stops by a transport carriage and climbs into it, telling the driver to head to the closest church that sells things.

Jack uses his divine sense to sense around him but is unable to feel anybody following him causing him to feel relief, he wasn't worried about the situation now that he has the bunny dash skill but he certainly didn't want to get involved with a group like that.

The usage of his divine sense to read the dice numbers causes him to feel excited about the prospect of being able to sense through objects, he had never thought about it before.

At times he has had the feeling of information about his surroundings enter his mind but that never felt like his own effort such as the time in the mining village with Amber, this time was different as he felt like he was in complete control of everything.

Controlling his divine sense, he is able to clearly feel that thread on the small clump of soil, it's strong and robust but immovable and sending out another thread is quite difficult as though he has to split tasks within his mind when it's not able to handle it very well.

The short trip is spent trying to use this second divine sense thread to look through objects such as the carriage or the clothing he is wearing, clothing is particularly difficult because it's such a thin layer constantly moving.

Jack's mind tires quickly constantly adjusting to peer only through the clothing and not any layers of skin but he feels this is worthwhile because it's almost like training for his mind.

Just as he's about to pull out the crystal he acquired from the dice game stall; the carriage slowly comes to a stop on a noisy road.

"We're here sir, Holy Heavens Grand Cathedral"

Jack peers outside the carriage looking at the huge building not far from him. There's a crowd of people outside by the gates, as though there are thousands of people in an area designed for hundreds.

A large wall and gate separate the road outside from a large complex that includes a large white cathedral-looking building with high towers and archways, a giant coloured window looking out at the sky along with several other smaller but well decorated buildings.

All of them plastered with a symbol of a white coloured star.

Many people are scurrying around by the gates going about their business as there is a small marketplace not too far from the entrance to the cathedral complex, causing it to be a tight squeeze off the roadway.

Jack gets off the carriage and forces his way through the tightly packed crowds, glad that he has a storage ring now and slowly makes his way to the large gates.

Standing to the side of the gate are several rather beautiful women and young men, behind them is a white haired, tall and rather large man that looks like he could be the leader, all of them wearing religious looking clothing.

"We welcome everyone to the Holy Heavens Cathedral, if you are here for salvation please step forward and talk to one of our nuns or reverends, we offer salvation to all people that are willing, of course if you are here for purchasing, please come through the gate." The white-haired man yells out, several people step forward from the crowd causing the young men and women in religious clothing to also step forward.

They can be seen talking in a playful manner, as the people wearing religious clothing can be seen touching and enticing the people whom they are speaking with.

Jack just walks past all of this, going through the gate and down a path without being bothered by anyone.

The white haired man watches Jack as he walks through the gate, his eyes narrowing as he watches Jacks every step slowing leaving his eyeline, he yells out "The blood-moon is the sign of the trials to come, joining something larger than yourself will better prepare you for the future, All are welcome!"

Jack is following a path that is surrounded by beautiful gardens that contain lush plants and trees giving the whole complex a very relaxing feeling in the middle of this drab grey and dreary city, the path splits up as one path leads to the large cathedral where many people wearing the same clothing are standing outside.

The other path leads to four buildings surrounding an open courtyard area, which looks like a small market area and very quiet compared to the majestic looking white cathedral and the street outside.

Each building within this market-like area is similar to a warehouse with a large window display indicating what they stock, there's one selling weapons, one selling armour, one selling technique crystals and one selling assorted goods.

Walking into the building that appears to sell weapons, Jack is immediately greeted by an attractive female clerk, "Welcome sir, are you a member of our church?"

Jack takes a quick look at the clerk; she is wearing a low-cut top displaying ample cleavage that she is trying to ensure Jack is able to see at all times.

Jack isn't tempted by her body replying, "No I'm not a member of your church, I am looking for holy element weapons, are you able to help me?"

"No problem sir, you may call me Ellen we have lots of holy element weapons but if you were a member of our church it'd be much cheaper for you to buy them, even get them for free. We have received many inquiries today from players such as yourself"

"You know I'm a player?"

"Yes, Sir as most residents would rather join our church than attempt to buy goods"

Jack frowns upon hearing this but the woman walks forward while lightly tugging on Jacks arm, to which he allows himself to be led further into the store, "What were you looking for, sir?"

"I'll need at least 200 swords, 100 spears, 10,000 arrows and around 50 of all the small arms you have"

The woman's eyes light up while forcing Jack's arm between her cleavage, "Sir, if you join our church for such a big order you will surely get great privileges and it will only cost 10% of normal"

"How much will it cost otherwise?"

"An order your size will be around 20 million gold but if you join our church it'll be yours for only 2 million, please join sir!" the woman embraces Jack's arm tighter.

"How much for just one sword?" Jack is curious as to the price of a single item now.

"A single iron sword will cost 20,000 gold but if you join it'll only be 2,000"

"There's no way to reduce the price without joining the church?"

"No sir, there is always the option of opening a new location for our church within your village or town but very few people have that option and you still need to join our church, would you like to join?"

Jack feels like leaving now, he doesn't want to join any organization like this as it's clearly designed to just extract money out of people.

"No, I'm a player and need my freedom, I won't join something that I have encountered for the first time today and know nothing about so please let go of my arm, I need to look at the other churches"

The woman doesn't release him, "The other churches all offer the same prices ever since the agreement on anti-demon practises so why don't you join us as you won't be able to join any of the other churches to get a better price"

Jack frowns upon hearing this, shaking his arm free before saying "Thanks for telling me this information, I need to go and make other arrangements then" and walks away from the woman.

He walks towards the door, the woman chases after him saying, "Sir wait!" when another woman appears near the door saying, "Sir please join, you might even get to keep one of us" her voice is filled with a seductiveness as this new woman's eyes contain a violet tinge.

Jack ignores all of this and walks out the door, he's honestly surprised they let him leave. Taking a quick look around he decides that it's not worth it to try the other buildings, opting to leave and try his luck at another church.

The white-haired man speaking takes notice of Jack leaving via the gate without anything, he says a few words to one of the beautiful women by him causing her to step toward Jack, "Sir please wait, my sisters and I wish to speak with you".

Jack doesn't even take notice of them as he quickly squeezes through the crowd, jumping onto the first transport carriage that has its door open awaiting a passenger, the beautiful woman is left standing outside the carriage looking at the white-haired man.

He shakes his head indicating to the woman that she needs to come back, he speaks to one of the young men by him who produces a piece of paper that has a detailed sketch of Jacks appearance.

Within the carriage Jack is thinking about everything that happened, the prices are ridiculous and every church seems to have an agreement where they only sell goods for a certain price, as though they're one large cartel.

"Where do you want to go, sir?" the carriage driver asks Jack through a window.

"Just take me to the nearest church that sells goods like weapons"

"You really want to go to nearest other church sir?" the carriage driver checks with Jack.

"Yes." Jack flips a silver coin to the carriage driver through the small window.

The carriage driver catches the coin before letting out a sigh, "Ok going to White Flower Church, it'll be about 45 minutes."

Jack sits and considers the prices of goods, if a sword is really 20,000 then he might be able to get some arrows without spending too much. Jack takes a look through the storage ring to see if there's anything valuable to sell, there's the sealed boxes but he doesn't want to open them yet but all of the other items will sell for 5-10 gold at most even if he can find someone to buy.

This trip will take 45 minutes which is longer than the last trip, Jack pulls out the technique crystal from the dice game stall and visually inspects it.

It looks like a standard technique crystal, a black diamond shape prism but there's no system information coming up about it, usually there would be some sort of information about it but it seems as though this crystal is locked or maybe damaged.

Holding it up to his head in an attempt to learn it, he isn't able to do anything with it causing him to feel frustrated, flipping it over as the pointed end touches his skin it easily breaks the skin causing a drop of blood to develop and touch the crystal.

A bright light is emitted from the crystal as though a lock is undone and information flows into Jack's mind giving him no time to work out what happened, Jack is left to watch scenes of a beautiful woman dressed in white using a magnificent spear technique in various ways.

In a majestic white building ordained with white flowers everywhere, a group of old women are sitting in a circle meditating, they are dressed with white robes each with a different number of petals on them ranging from one to eight petals indicating rank.

The room they're located within is simple, along the wall are hundreds of portraits and a large crystal ball is located within the centre of the room, suddenly the crystal ball shines with a white glow causing all the women to come out of their meditation.

"Which sister is obtaining an inheritance?" one of the women can be heard asking.

"No one was scheduled to receive an inheritance today, let me check" the woman closest to the crystal ball walks over to it, pressing her hand down before her eyes go wide in shock.

"This can't be true; how can it be her?"

"What is it, Sister Qingrou?"

"Someone has obtained the inheritance of Saintess Tessa" the woman called sister Qingrou responds.

"What?" several other women yell out in surprise at the same time. Many of them step forward and press their hand down onto the crystal to check the information but not losing their shocked expression upon confirming it.

"How is that possible?", "Wasn't Saintess Tessa's inheritance orb stolen?", "Aren't inheritance orbs useless for anyone that doesn't have the White Flower bloodline?"

The room quickly devolves into separate discussions as no one knows what is going on, sister Qingrou can see the situation getting out of hand and claps to bring everyone to attention.

"We need to inform Grand Madam Yumi and Lisa, we can't answer this ourselves"

The group of women parts while sister Qingrou stands by the crystal ball trying to find out any information she can, this crystal ball contains information about everyone that currently has the inheritance orbs from previous saints of the White Flower Church but the person that obtained the inheritance of Saintess Tessa isn't visible.

Back within the carriage, Jack is no longer seeing visions of powerful woman using a spear but he has been greatly inspired by her usage as he brings up the information provided by the crystal:

[Heaven's Piercing Thrust] Grade: Legendary Description, Legendary spear technique perfected by Saintess Tessa, said to have pierced through the heavens to allow the first pilgrims salvation from tyranny.

Jack is stunned by this information, it's a legendary technique.

Incredibly rare and he just came across one within a market place causing him to be very excited and wanting to try the technique out as it comes with several different spear skills that he can use with the newly acquired spear

He feels that the visions he saw were related with the usage of this technique giving him massive inspiration but before he can sink back into his mind and consider all of this, the carriage is slowing down and the driver knocks at the window, "We're here".