Chapter 307: Bidding Farewell to the Archbishop
Watching the devil burned to nothing, York casually discarded the knight's sword in his hand.
The sword spun through the air, disintegrating into points of light and merging with the surroundings.
"Dominic?"
York tilted his head, approving of the devil's earnest actions with a nod.
With that name, he figured he could find a lot of information.
Of course, as the saying goes, when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.
Undeniably, this was also a conspiracy.
Because the more he investigated, the deeper he got connected with the name, the more Dominic could sense it.
"It seems this guy isn't dead."
York scanned the area. "But one thing is certain, there are no traces of Dominic in this world."
"This place has been cleansed, probably just some small fry left,
to give Marcos and his team some practice.
I can't possibly stay in this world forever…"
York vanished from the spot.
Miles away in the city of Baelst.
In the pristine new chapel, York, sitting on a pew, opened his eyes and instinctively looked up at the image of Jesus in front of him.
"Did you do this? God, this is the second time I've felt destiny."
The image of Jesus remained eternal, with no one and nothing responding to York's question. The chapel was so quiet, one could probably hear a pin drop.
Until night fell, York received no answer.
"Never mind."
York stared at the image of Jesus, chuckled indifferently, and stood up to leave.
"As long as it's good for me, no harm done, I'm okay with anything,
goodnight, God."
As his voice fell and footsteps echoed away, the chapel returned to silence.
Only the statue remained eternal.
…
The next day.
The outside world plunged back into celebration, reveling in the crisis being averted and territories reclaimed.
Before long.
The populace gradually gathered on both sides of the main street, watching as Marcos and other priests led the procession slowly out of the city.
York, who had issued a series of orders, appeared in a library specially arranged by Marcos.
Following his instructions, Marcos had moved all the family's stock, notes, including their histories.
All about the ancient church of the past, now relocated here.
The room was filled with the essence of a nation's history.
York was satisfied.
He always believed the greatest power was knowledge.
Without knowledge, he couldn't have progressed to this point.
"This is also thanks to my evolution.
If my brain hadn't evolved, didn't have photographic memory among other skills, then I couldn't have remembered so much, the human brain is ultimately limited…"
York picked a chair, put his feet up on the table, and with a thought, casually summoned an old notebook.
While flipping through it, he muttered to himself.
"I'm very skeptical about the situation back then, it seems deliberate."
The whole Free Nation was in celebration, but York began to understand the history of another world.
After a long time, as the sky darkened and lights appeared outside, York's incessant flipping finally stopped on a thin notebook.
It was the notebook of an ancient church priest, also one of the founders of the new church, Marcos' ancestor.
It only had a few lines.
"My power is gone, has God abandoned us? No…"
"Despair! Humanity crucified the saint, is this God's punishment?"
"Bishop Seth told me, he made a soul pact with a devil,
he said he wanted to make the people of this world pay! Pay for their actions! He wanted to avenge the saint!"
"Bishop Seth has disappeared."
"I am very afraid, I can feel the devil is about to descend."
…
"Indeed."
York stroked the notebook, sighing in his heart.
Things were indeed as he had thought.
But York always felt uneasy, as if he were the one picking peaches.
Combining Saint Andrew's non-resistance, willingly going to his death, he quickly concluded.
Saint Andrew did it deliberately.
"He wanted to start over, to consume all greedy, transformed humans in a struggle with the devil, thus leaving behind those with purer thoughts…"
York tossed the notebook aside, using his telekinesis to put it back in place.
"But is this really purity…"
He didn't know, and continued summoning another thick book.
At this time, apart from absorbing knowledge of this other world, there was nothing else.
Because undoubtedly, this rise of the church would become a true behemoth.
The disappearance of the devil was not the end, but just the beginning.
This world had become a kind of coordinate.
Even if Dominic truly died, countless lesser beings would still descend, not to mention that it seemed he wasn't really dead yet.
Just like the real world.
No matter the exorcism, paranormal events would still occur.
Soon after going through half the library, York discovered many things.
Dominic.
Based on the various legends here and Dominic's pair of black wings, York quickly compiled a very reliable piece of information using his real-world knowledge.
A Seraph.
One of the first angels created by God, frontline forces battling hell and demons, tasked with guarding heaven from demonic invasion.
"A Seraph, huh? No wonder he became a fallen angel, after all, being an angel in direct contact with hell, they are often morally ambiguous…"
York shook his head, his face nonchalant, continuing to absorb the knowledge of this world.
His time here was running out.
Time flowed on.
"Amen!"
York sat on a pew, continuing his daily routine tasks.
By now, he had accumulated eighteen attribute points.
Just then, York also sensed the church's desire to create.
"Here we go again."
He smirked, only able to comply with the local priest's wishes, bestowing a divine incarnation amid the cheers of many believers at the newly created church.
By this time, York could hardly count how many churches he now had.
Only knowing that the power he now held was a bit frightening.
With a single strike, a devil that had been lurking in the dark, incessantly reaping souls, had fled on the spot, leaving only some small fry for the clergy to train with.
Clearly, after this ordeal, Marcos' group of clergy had become more adept with their powers.
At least they were starting to look like what clergy should.
Meanwhile, under his deliberate arrangement, Marcos, Makarov, Gennady, and some other former leaders, had been promoted to bishops.
Another month passed.
The maps of five kingdoms were finally connected, and life was getting better day by day.
…
"Archbishop."
Marcos, dressed in a bishop's robe, looked at the archbishop who was still flipping through books, and spoke respectfully.
"I've talked it out with the local authorities, we've divided it very thoroughly,
they also agreed to our proposal."
Hearing this, York stopped flipping through his book, glancing at the energetic Marcos.
"That's good."
By now, he was lurking in the background, no longer meddling in affairs except for blessing churches.
Mainly because there were no opportunities to act.
Because the devils of this world had all fled, except for Dominic, who he had encountered before, all other devils had vanished without a trace upon witnessing his power.
They ran so fast, he found no chance to act.
As for the remaining small fry, he was somewhat reluctant to intervene.
If it could trigger a random task, it would be fine, but even the fallen angels couldn't trigger a random task, let alone those small fry.
The next second, Marcos' words somewhat surprised York.
"Archbishop, I have a question for you."
"Hm?"
Marcos stared at the archbishop who had long stopped managing affairs, only having them continuously gather information, and asked cautiously with a slightly saddened expression.
"Are you going to leave?"
York turned to look at Marcos, seeing his suddenly sorrowful expression, and couldn't help but smile.
"How did you know I was going to leave?"
"You really are leaving!" Marcos' voice became even lower, his face growing dimmer, his respect tinged with reluctance.
"From the things you've had us do, I can see that,
your time in this world is almost up."
York took a serious look at Marcos, then continued to stare at the book in his hands.
"Don't worry, as long as you keep your devotion to the Lord, I will always be there,
meaning I will always be watching over you.
Though as you said, I indeed have to leave."
Marcos' heart leaped, his face mirroring his emotions:
"Really?"
"Yes."
York smiled, waving his hand: "Go on, if there's nothing else, don't disturb me."
Marcos took a deep breath, seemingly absorbing the answer, bowed deeply and loudly said.
"Yes! Archbishop."
After speaking, his steps were a bit excited as he left.
"This guy…" York stared at the book in his hands, shaking his head.
Even without using mind reading, through the mental map in his mind, he could actually see the group of priests gathering outside, including those who had also made significant contributions in the counter-offensive and were promoted to bishops.
…
"How is it?"
Marcos came out, and the group of clergy immediately greeted him, anxious and apprehensive.
Seeing his colleagues, Marcos' face relaxed, his smile bright.
"The archbishop said he will always be there, as long as we keep our devotion to the Lord."
"Yes!" Someone excitedly clenched their fist, swinging it hard through the air.
"That's great!"
The clergy, who always maintained a stern, cold demeanor in public, could no longer hold back their expressions at this moment.
…
"Shh! Shh!"
Marcos hurriedly intervened.
"Keep it down! Don't disturb the Archbishop, let's go somewhere else."
"Ok!"
Their footsteps
grew distant.
"Marcos, do you think the Archbishop would mind if we secretly carved a statue of him?"
"I don't think he would."
"Ah? You think?"
"What are you afraid of, if the Archbishop blames us, I'll take the responsibility!"
"I will too!"
…
"My statue?"
Suddenly hearing this conversation, York was taken aback, only managing a chuckle, he could probably sense these people's feelings towards him.
"Let them do it."
As his voice faded, only the sound of pages turning remained.
The next night.
York used hundreds of thousands of points of holy power accumulated from various churches to appear in any church as hundreds of thousands of divine incarnations.
"I'll use a hundred points to create a permanent divine incarnation for each church,
this way, unless my original body dies, these incarnations will not vanish."
York stared at the data panel, directly using the system's conversion function.
Originally, he had enchanted a pair of night-vision eyes for the wealthy girl Jess by deducting a point of magic power.
Now, he could also leave a divine incarnation in each church by deducting a hundred points of holy power.
Of course, the hundred points deducted were naturally the church's accumulated points.
After all, he had only about two hundred points himself.
In an instant, while the whole world slept,
every church was illuminated by light.
Permanently deducting the church's current level of accumulated points as a cost, York left countless trigger-ready, blessing-capable divine incarnations.
This was York's gift to this world, even if he left, these divine incarnations would still carry his will, acting on his behalf in this world…
Another month passed.
"Amen."
Inside the now-renamed Baelst Holy City's indoor church.
York completed his prayer, listening to the completion tones of daily and world tasks, he sighed in relief.
"It's finally over."
The sounds in his ears were the daily task notifications, along with the world task completion tones.
[...]
[Condition met: Trigger random task, this world is seeking salvation]
[Task requirement: Save, help people find their faith, or become their faith (Completed)]
[Task reward: +100 attribute points + Seal spatial rifts and return (Issued)]
[…]
"I've become wealthy overnight."
York's gaze rested on the one hundred fifty-three points of usable attribute points, a smile forming on his face.
This was his real power.
This was the power that could directly change his essence.
The rest were just externals.
"And the rift has also appeared."
York looked up, between the image of Jesus and himself, a crimson rift appeared out of thin air.
Without much thought, York used eighty-four usable points to boost his all-around physique, preparing to break two hundred,
then added the remaining sixty-nine points to his spirit.
As time evolved, the combination of spirit and holy power had become his frequently used method, mainly because it possessed three abilities, the most cost-effective way to allocate points.
[All-around physique: 117 raised to 201]
[Spirit/Holy power: 221 raised to 290]
"Feels good."
The instant change in his body after the increase made York smile. He turned to look at the silent church one last time, then stepped towards the rift in front of him.
"It's time to go back."
Just as he was about to step into the rift, York suddenly stopped, his smile radiant.
He heard the voice of the entire world.
In his mind, in front of every church, on every newly created plaza, countless people knelt, young and old.
They stared at the statue in front of them, devoutly saying.
"Farewell, Archbishop!"
…
The statue, hands behind its back, stared ahead.
Tall and proportionately built, dressed in a simple bishop's robe, with neatly trimmed short hair.
The robust features radiated a resolute and masculine aura, the deep eyes twinkling with determination and resolve.
If not himself, then who else could it be.
"Goodbye."
York stepped into the rift, without any regrets.
The rift, along with him, vanished, and the indoor church returned to deathlike silence.
___________________
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