Bloodline Awakening: Tempest in the Bizarre World

Chapter 6

Before it was fully dawn and the first rays of morning light had just spilled down, Walter was already standing at the door, looking out with anticipation, waiting for the arrival of Friar Ferra. It didn't take long for Friar Ferra's figure to come into view. Friar Ferra looked a bit tired, but he still managed to force a smile and said, "I've already reached an agreement with Painter Alva. Later, you can come with me to meet him. He has agreed to take you on as an apprentice."

"Really? Friar Ferra, thank you so much!" Walter couldn't hide his excitement, and a bright smile spread across his face, filled with sincerity and anticipation. Seeing Walter so happy, Friar Ferra secretly heaved a sigh of relief, and a trace of doubt welled up in his heart: Could it be that he had been too strict in following the rules before and didn't know how to be flexible? He put these thoughts aside for the moment and led Walter towards the South District Church.

"Friar Ferra, you seem to have been extremely busy recently?" Walter casually asked as he used his hand to tidy up his slightly messy hair, hoping to leave a good first impression on the teacher he was about to meet. Finally, he skillfully covered the prominent scar under his left eye corner with his semi-long bangs. Friar Ferra was still young and perhaps didn't know the secrets hidden behind this scar, but it was hard to say that the other friars in the South District Church wouldn't notice anything unusual.

"Well, there have been some thorny matters to deal with recently." Friar Ferra rubbed his temples and replied wearily.

"Is it related to those monsters?" Walter deliberately steered the conversation, "I witnessed with my own eyes that you dealt with that monster with just one sword strike the other day. Those monsters should all have been eliminated by you by now, right?"

"It's not that simple." Friar Ferra smiled helplessly. Unlike his resolute demeanor when he unsheathed his sword that night, he now seemed a bit shy. "The heterogeneous aren't so easily eradicated completely. Walter, if you come across anyone suspicious, you must be especially careful." He raised his hand and stared at his palm, as if recalling the intense battle that night again. "Those monsters are extremely dangerous."

Then, Friar Ferra began to introduce the common heterogeneous beings to Walter: "There are many types of heterogeneous beings. Common ones include werewolves, ghouls, wendigos, banshees, and there are also sirens by the sea. Of course, there are even more mysterious existences like vampires." He only briefly described the general characteristics of these heterogeneous beings and didn't go into in-depth explanations.

Walter was particularly curious about vampires. In the legends of his previous life, vampires were the sworn enemies of werewolves. In this world, there also seemed to be intricate connections between the two. It was said that at first, vampires didn't exist. Some human sorcerers, in pursuit of eternal life, accidentally created them after studying werewolves. For every pure vampire that came into being, a werewolf had to be sacrificed, so the relationship between the two was extremely hostile.

Although ghouls and wendigos had some similarities, neither could hide among humans for a long time. Once they reached adulthood or a certain stage of development, their abnormalities could no longer be concealed, and they were forced to stay away from people. And banshees mostly lived deep in the mountains and forests. So, among human society, the ones that were the most deeply hidden and posed the greatest threat were still werewolves.

Friar Ferra only briefly introduced the characteristics of the common heterogeneous beings, reminded Walter to be on high alert, and then didn't say much more. By then, they had already arrived at the South District Cathedral.

Entering the church through the side door, Friar Ferra always felt that people around him were pointing at him. The strange looks made him feel uncomfortable all over, and he even instinctively wanted to lower his head to avoid those glances.

"It seems that the architectural styles of the Holy Church are all quite similar." Walter secretly memorized the layout and structure of the church without showing any signs. Although people usually collectively referred to it as the Church, in fact, there were many differences among different churches. Most formal churches believed in the Creator God "Nuo", that is, the supreme God depicted in the "Holy Scriptures". However, the gods worshipped by different churches were different "aspects" of the God, so there were differences in doctrines, the images of the gods, and so on among the churches. The relationships among the churches were also complex and intricate. Some supported each other, while some were at odds. The churches in the Divine Might Holy Kingdom mostly believed in the Holy Voice and were the Holy Churches, which were relatively close to the common people. Among the numerous churches on the continent, they were also relatively large in scale.

For Walter, his goal was to break free from the constraints of the Holy Church, but before that, he had to obtain enough information and resources from here.

From a distance, Walter saw a middle-aged man crouching in the corner, gently stroking the patterns on the wall with his fingers. The man had a stubbly beard, and his dry, long hair was casually tied into a ponytail. He was wearing a robe that was originally white but now a bit yellowish. Although he looked a bit slovenly, there was no unpleasant smell on him, except that his hands were stained with various paints.

"He is Alva Ratu." Friar Ferra whispered and introduced to Walter, "A well-known painter who settled in Roya a few years ago."

When they got closer, Friar Ferra pulled Walter and said, "Master Alva, this is Walter."

"Friar Ferra, you can go about your business. Just leave him here." Alva didn't even look up, and his hands kept moving. He was still groping on the wall and occasionally tapped the wall with his hand, listening carefully to the sound.

"Then I'll be going. Walter, you must study attentively. If you have anything, come to me." Friar Ferra patted Walter on the shoulder and turned to walk towards the interior of the church. He himself had a lot of affairs to deal with urgently.

After Friar Ferra left, only Walter and Alva were left in that corner. Alva didn't seem to have the intention of communicating with Walter and still focused on observing the wall. Walter wasn't willing to be idle either and followed suit to observe. The murals on the wall depicted the deeds of the God creating the world and saving all living beings as described in the "Holy Scriptures", but now these murals had already faded and were peeling off.

This wasn't surprising. Although the Holy Voice Church hadn't actively persecuted gray occupations such as sorcerers and witch doctors in recent years, it still held prejudice against them. So, the items in the church were at most of high quality and didn't contain any extraordinary power. The Church had always focused on communicating with the God. They firmly believed that as long as the communication was unobstructed, they could obtain more powerful divine arts.

"Hey, you, go and tell the person in charge of procurement to buy one more bottle of spirits in the materials." Alva suddenly said out of the blue.

Walter looked around and found that he was the only one present, so he didn't ask any more questions and walked towards another place. He stopped a passing friar, found out who the procurement person in charge of the church was, and then went to find that person on his own.

Walter knew in his heart that during his apprenticeship, he was largely free labor, and whether he could learn real skills from his teacher depended entirely on luck. However, he didn't care. He could just take this opportunity to walk around the church and pry into some of the Church's secrets.

The church's procurement officer was a middle-aged fat man. When he heard Walter say that he wanted to add one more bottle of spirits, he looked extremely impatient and even showed his disgust without any concealment: "What's the use of spirits in painting? Could it be that that slovenly painter just said it casually and you heard it wrong? Go back and ask clearly before you come again!"

"I'm sure I didn't hear it wrong. Please..." Walter glanced at the documents on the table and continued, "Please add this item to the materials, Friar Jim. If you have any doubts, you can go and ask my teacher."

"Friar Jim, Sir Ruber is here." At this time, someone knocked on the door and announced. This made the middle-aged fat man Jim even more impatient with Walter: "You go back first. I'll add it for you later." But he found that Walter didn't seem to have the intention of leaving and was still standing there.

Only then did Jim take a good look at Walter. Helplessly, he pulled out the document beside him and added "One bottle of spirits" to it.

"Thank you for your trouble, Friar Jim." Walter smiled and thanked him, then turned and left.

When he returned to that corner, Alva was still there. For the whole day that followed, Walter followed Alva around, watching him take measurements in various places in the church.

"Hey, you, come earlier tomorrow!" As it was getting dark, Alva finally turned around and said a word to Walter, but he still didn't remember Walter's name.

However, what Walter didn't expect was that when he walked through the corridor and was about to leave through the side door, someone called out to him. It turned out to be the white-bearded friar who had pronounced the sentence at the scene of the execution by fire that day.