Early the next morning, at the Holy Capital Cathedral.
As an invited guest, Gut was not late.
Arriving an hour early at the cathedral, he was led by Heiter, the Holy Capital Bishop, through a side door to enter first.
Though Gut had mentally prepared himself before entering the cathedral.
When he actually pushed open the side door and stepped inside, the grandeur still left him stunned in place for several seconds.
Countless massive stone pillars supported a dome several meters high; exquisite stained glass depicted every chapter from the Spell book.
"Quite overwhelming, isn't it?" Heiter, dressed in clerical robes, said beside him.
"The first time I entered the Cathedral, I was speechless for several minutes."
His gentle voice even carried a somewhat ethereal quality in this grand setting.
"Yes, it's truly a magnificent and massive project."
"But Bishop, tell me - how much manpower and resources must have been spent to build this?"
Gut's counter-question left even Heiter somewhat taken aback. He shook his head helplessly before answering.
"Your focus is truly unique, but I can indeed answer this question."
"According to historical records, its construction began in the second year after the Goddess's descent."
"It then took over 300 years for the main body of the church to be completed. The subsequent construction of the Cathedral's remaining parts took nearly another century."
"Around the 500th New Year after the Goddess's descent, with the capping ceremony, the Cathedral's scale and form were officially recorded."
"In later years, though there were some small expansions, most were mainly repairs and maintenance."
"The Cathedral's last major renovation was over a hundred years ago."
"I see." Gut nodded, gaining a basic understanding of the cathedral's architectural history.
Noticing the guest's interest in the cathedral's historical culture, Heiter simply led Gut on a tour around the church.
Heiter provided detailed explanations for any religious artifacts and representative sculptures that caught Gut's interest.
It wasn't until less than half an hour remained before morning prayers that Heiter stopped, apologetically pausing the tour.
"Sorry, Gut."
"Today's morning prayers are open to the public. I need to excuse myself to guide the Goddess's believers inside."
"Please find a seat anywhere. After the ceremony ends, I'll continue the tour and discuss 'that matter' in detail."
"Alright."
After Heiter's departure, Gut looked around.
His gaze didn't linger on the front seats, but instead chose to sit in the center of the very last row.
After all, Gut's curiosity about the Cathedral wasn't focused on the God, but on the people.
Those front seats were more meaningfully used to bring oneself closer to the clergy, sacred ceremonies, and the Goddess.
But Gut didn't have such faith.
Therefore, for observing people, this back row position was undoubtedly the best place.
A few minutes later, the Cathedral's main doors were officially opened.
According to Heiter's earlier explanation, opening the main doors represented the clergy's welcome and respect for the Goddess's believers.
But at this moment, Gut had a thought.
When Heiter had brought him into the Cathedral earlier, he had specifically taken a detour through the side door.
Could this also have included consideration that he wasn't a Goddess believer?
While pondering, scattered footsteps came from behind. Gut looked back to see a sea of people appearing.
These people were presumably the true believers coming to participate in the morning prayer ceremony.
Among them, some wore complete religious attire. Though the style differed from what Heiter and the other priests wore, it was clearly carefully designed and tailored - white clothes with only a simple drawing of the Goddess and symbols representing believers.
Most people's clothing was more casual.
They merely wore badges representing believers on their clothes, indicating their believer status.
Before long, people had consciously taken their seats according to first-come-first-served principles.
The originally spacious Cathedral interior, even after being filled with people, remained... still spacious.
After all, the Cathedral's land usage was truly extravagant.
Under such a layout, even with all seats filled, there would be no visual effect of crowding.
Seeing all believers seated, Heiter gave the other clergy a look.
According to custom, these clergy needed to form a line and pass through the center of the believers' seats to take the stage for the ceremony.
This allowed believers to see each cleric's face during the process.
After confirming everyone was ready, as cathedral bishop, Heiter took the lead at the front of all clergy.
Therefore, he immediately spotted Gut sitting in the cathedral's back row, his calm gaze showing surprise once again.
But his expression remained peaceful and benevolent, smiling at every believer's gaze.
After all clergy had taken the stage, today's morning prayer ceremony officially began.
As the prayers of priests and children began echoing in the grand church, believers also clasped their hands together, bowed their heads, and chanted along.
Gut leaned back against the back row chair, not joining their prayers but silently observing these devout believers.
Suddenly, the perceptive Gut seemed to notice something and quickly looked up at the Goddess painting on the Cathedral's high platform.
The painting, which had already been lifelike with three-dimensional depth, became even more realistic at this moment.
Even the Goddess's outline now emanated visible white holy light.
"This..."
Gut rubbed his eyes in disbelief. After confirming he wasn't mistaken, he had a thought and immediately activated the system to launch an Investigation.
[Ding!]
[Investigation successful!]
With a "whoosh," Gut immediately sat up straight.
His gaze fixed intently on the information interface produced by the system investigation, wanting to see just how extensive this Goddess's profile was.
However, this investigation didn't produce instant results like before. The system information interface loaded like watching videos in remote mountains - stuttering, only loading one or two characters at a time.
Fortunately, the morning prayer ceremony was relatively lengthy, leaving Gut with sufficient time.
And compared to before, the system information interface loaded somewhat faster, no longer appearing character by character but trait by trait.
It's just...
Why was the holy light from the Goddess painting getting brighter and brighter?
Gut tensed up, feeling a sense of foreboding.
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Powerstones?
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