Walker Of The Worlds

2793  The Places Of Worship

Lin Mu went to the nearest church and scanned the building.

'Hmm, they do have arrays here, but they are mere monitoring arrays and do not restrict entry.' Lin Mu reckoned he would have no problem getting in and staying undetected.

But he didn't enter just yet. He still needed to see what kind of resistance they could put up.

'Around a hundred people inside. Deacons and priests,' Lin Mu noted, observing their attire. 'There's also some defensive and offensive arrays that can be activated when threatened.' He discovered next.

But both were nothing to him. The standards were far too low, and the protection so weak that Lin Mu could have stood in place, subjecting himself to their full onslaught for hours, and still remained unharmed.

'They slack on defense since they have a lack of crime,' Lin Mu understood.

It was working in his favor, so he had no reason to complain. With the threats assessed, Lin Mu easily entered the building with Phase and scanned it properly from the inside.

He checked every person as well as anything of interest within the church.

The church was a towering structure, easily two to three hundred meters tall at its peak. Massive marble pillars rose to the vaulted ceilings, their surfaces etched with divine inscriptions that shimmered faintly with residual spiritual energy. Several neat rows of pews stretched out before the altar, where a grand statue of the Supreme God stood silently, watching over the faithful.

The statue was nearly ten meters tall—majestic, with flowing runes carved in exquisite detail and a serene, benevolent glow spreading upon the congregation. It radiated a gentle but potent aura.

'The same energy… the energy of Faith, I assume,' Lin Mu mused. 'Though the amount in this statue is thousands of times greater than the small shrine in that house.'

He now wondered how the energy would vary from church to church.

'I'll have to check that out later too,' he reckoned as he floated silently upstairs to the office located behind the massive statue.

There were several priests working late into the night here, while even more were sleeping in the quarters located below the office. Lin Mu went completely unnoticed as he rifled through the documents and books present. Most were mundane—sermons in progress, daily schedules, donation records, and accounting ledgers. Nothing of note.

Feeling satisfied, Lin Mu exited and made his way to another church.

'Hmm… the amount of Energy of Faith in this statue is less than the last one,' Lin Mu judged.

He reckoned it was due to the church's location. It was situated in a quieter, less populated district of the city, which likely affected the energy gathered there.

He checked the office and found documents listing the congregation numbers.

'Just a hundred. The last church had over three hundred,' Lin Mu noted.

He left the church and continued on, visiting church after church, surveying them one by one.

By the time dawn approached, he had investigated over fifteen churches.

And in the morning, he finally got to witness an actual sermon.

The priests stood at the altar, their robes glistening with thread-of-gold embroidery as their voices rang out with vigor and passion. Their words were practiced and persuasive, clearly designed to stir devotion. The congregants, dozens of them, responded in perfect unison, reciting ancient prayers that resonated through the building with rhythmic clarity.

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Their faith was palpable.

After about twenty minutes, the sermon ended, and the people quietly filed out, murmuring blessings and words of praise.

Lin Mu's next destination was a far more imposing building—one that dwarfed the churches he had seen thus far.

'A Cathedral… let's see what happens here,' Lin Mu thought as he slipped into the vast and opulent structure.

The Cathedral was far more extravagant than any of the churches. Towering spires pierced the clouds, their stained glass windows casting kaleidoscopic light into the grand hall. The air inside felt heavier, as if the structure itself was steeped in divine authority.

At the center of the vast chamber stood another statue of the Supreme God. But this one was different—not just in size, which was over fifteen meters tall, but in craftsmanship. It was adorned with gold leaf, embedded with luminous gemstones, and surrounded by floating rings of inscriptions etched into glowing metal.

'This is almost as much as ten churches combined,' Lin Mu estimated, sensing the sheer concentration of Faith energy within the statue.

The Cathedral was guarded more heavily, with patrolling sentinels and stronger arrays lining the perimeter. The spiritual formations here weren't just for show—they could offer actual resistance, though still far below Lin Mu's capabilities.

'Looks like they have a class system here too,' Lin Mu learned.

Whereas the churches catered to common folk—peasants, merchants, craftsmen, and laborers—the Cathedrals were reserved for the upper strata of society. Business owners, landholders, affluent merchants, and those with higher cultivation bases attended these sacred halls.

'A church for the nobles, it seems,' Lin Mu reckoned.

Though the Osteri World had no official aristocracy, the hierarchy was enforced through faith. Everyone was a devotee of the Supreme God, yet their status was reflected in which sacred buildings they frequented.

This was a stark difference from the Rust Sky World. There, sects had once ruled before being eradicated. But here in Osteri, there had never been sects at all. The church had filled that role from the beginning.

'The churches and cathedrals seem more like sects instead, having different levels of "disciples",' Lin Mu mused. 'Even if the Worlds are different the class systems always appear.' He thought.

After completing his investigation of the Cathedral, Lin Mu visited several more, all of which shared the same characteristics.

With his observations complete, Lin Mu decided it was time to move on.

'But there is one more place that I should take a look at… the Holy See,' Lin Mu said to himself as he gazed toward a colossal structure looming in the distance.

The Holy See wasn't just a religious building—it was a fortress.