Chapter 53: Blessings in church

The doors opened and the first thing he saw was a golden statue of a man with two faces, each facing in different directions. This man had a thick beard and stern eyes, wearing nothing but a leaf in his crotch.

On his right hand was a key that had a long shaft and two bits of different sizes at the end–a key reminiscent of ancient times. And on the other end of this key was a circular clock that kept ticking without any mechanisms powering it.

Is that the Genesis God?

Atlan and Lizzie walked down the path and he saw rows of pews on the left and right side of the church.

He looked up and saw more paintings of heaven in the ceiling, this time with the two faced man in the center of it all. Even the stained glass windows to the side showed a depiction of this man in different ethereal poses.

"The Savior appears!"

A few people stood up from the top right pew and greeted Atlan. He was surprised to see that it was Neumann and the rest of his team, all looking at him with smiling eyes.

He expected to see them barely standing from the injuries they sustained. But instead, they all stood with no bandages, no crutches, and no sign of scratches on their bodies. They looked as healthy as ever.

How is this possible?

"It took you long enough, Atlan. We've been waiting here for a long time." Neumann walked over to him and grasped his shoulders. Atlan felt power from him, power he didn't expect from a man recovering from a fatal wound in his stomach.

"You're fine?"

"Of course I am!"

The tank couldn't help himself anymore and gave Atlan a bear hug. "Thank you! Thank you, man. Without you, we would have been stuck there in pain." seaʀᴄh thё ηovelFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Atlan was still confused, so he wasn't able to react.

"You're smothering him." The pugilist pulled the tank away from Atlan. "I'm just so thankful to him," the tank said.

"You're a real one." The archer patted him on the shoulders and gave him an approving nod.

The Stun Wizard slowly approached him with her head down. She had her hands behind her back, concealing something that she was embarrassed about.

"This…this is just a thanks…thanks…" The Stun Wizard pulled out a red box with a neatly wrapped white ribbon on top of it. Her face was tomato red as she gave it to him, avoiding eye contact with him.

Is this box something to be embarrassed about? Why did she give it to me then?

"It's just some cheap chocolate I found somewhere. It's nothing special…"

Atlan had no idea about the ways of women. He didn't notice the passion and care she put into conveying her feelings for him in the form of the gift.

And if he had Pterina's LifeSkill, he would have known that she was lying about it being 'nothing special'. He would have seen her heartbeat increase the moment she caught a whiff of his scent.

"Thanks," Atlan said as he put away the box.

Everyone seemed very thankful for Atlan. Without him, they would have been waiting in agony for hours on end in the Remedium. After all, HeadQuarters didn't even know something was wrong until he came out of the portal with an injured veteran in his hands.

"Are you all ready to be blessed?"

Someone from the other side of the altar spoke out. Altan saw a bespectacled man wearing an ankle-length white garment with long sleeves walk towards the group. He noticed that the man had a narrow strip of cloth around his neck that hung down on the front, with the design of the god's two faces on each side.

"This is Reverend Fifty Seventh. He's the main priest of the church." Lizzie introduced the holy-looking man.

"Please, call me Fifty-seventh." The priest then walked over to the center of the altar and addressed everyone. "I'm glad that I'm the one able to give out the blessings to such wonderful people. Are you all ready?"

Atlan was the only one who didn't know anything, so he quickly raised the question. "What are we supposed to do?"

The priest gave him a small smile. "The Genesis God will beam down his rewards onto all of you. You'll gain more life and more experience."

"If you have any questions about how to use your experience, you can ask me," Lizzie whispered to him.

"Do not worry. I will guide all of you through this magical experience. The only thing you need to do is to stand and accept the grace from God."

The rest of his teammates gleamed with happiness once they heard that. This was the first time they'd ever get experience, so their excitement was palpable. They thought they'd failed their mission, so getting rewarded like this was a blessing for them.

"I'm so excited to get stronger!"

"Yes! This is my first step to greatness!"

"Aren't you excited…Atlan?" the Stun Wizard asked him with a slight blush on her face.

"I'm excited too," he lied.

Neumann gave him a slight nudge. "I'm sure you'll be given lots of experience this time. You've done a great job."

"We get different Experiences?"

"Usually, everybody gets the same experience. But, sometimes, the God gives out extra to those he deems have done a great service–like you. Oh, look. The priest's starting."

Atlan saw Reverend Fifty-seventh take out a golden key from his pocket, the same one that the statue on the altar had, but a bit smaller. He then raised it to the ceiling and closed his eyes.

The priest muttered something under his breath, but Atlan couldn't hear it.

Suddenly, a beam of light came down from the ceiling towards them. Atlan noticed that the beam coincided with the center of the Genesis God's painting.

Atlan's eyes widened as he saw blue wisps come from out of nowhere and descend towards the group. This was Experience, manifested in reality.

Soon enough, those wisps separated into smaller wisps and came down and landed on their foreheads.

[You have received 10 experience]

Once everything settled down, the beam of light disappeared.

"Yes! 10 experience!"

"Woohoo!"

"I didn't think I'd get this much from our first mission!"

The youths celebrated their rewards, and the Stun Wizard turned towards Atlan to celebrate with him. However, she was surprised to see that he was glowing white!

[You have successfully advanced your SSS class Grim Reaper Physique LifeSkill to the 2nd stage of the Student Realm]