10 Church of Neutral Light

"You want to explore this huge world, eh?"

John repeated Parr's words. He felt that this was very well said! It described the ambitions of an adventurer. 

"Well said!"

John patted Parr's thin and weak shoulder, almost knocking him down in the process.

"Little boy, you said it well! We have to explore the most magnificent scenery, defeat the most powerful enemies, meet the most beautiful women, and kill all the cultists!"

"Yes, you're right!"

Parr rubbed his shoulder and nodded repeatedly. He did not feel that there was anything wrong with John's words. The cultists had left a deep impression on him. They all deserved to die!

"In that case..."

John's voice changed. He narrowed his eyes, squatted on the ground, and pressed on Parr's shoulder. A big smile appeared on his face. 

He said in a soft tone, "Boy, since you are so ambitious, would you want to go out and explore the world with me? There would be plenty of fun and delicious food to savor..."

"Huh?"

Parr was stunned. What was John trying to do? Was he trying to abduct and sell children? This body was only ten years old! In the deep-rooted beliefs of transmigrators, ten years old was not a suitable age to go out and explore. He planned to stay in Haystack Village until he was stronger before beginning his exploration!

At this moment, Old Jack's voice rang out. "Parr, he's right! It's time for you to go out and explore."

"Father?"

Parr turned around and found that Old Jack had woken up and looked at him.

As if understanding Parr's confusion, Old Jack smiled and explained, "John is a Holy Knight of the Church. You can trust him."

"What is a Holy Knight?"

…

The church's full name was the Church of Neutral Light. It was founded by the Holy Dragon, one of the seven Holy Knights who saved the world a thousand years ago. It had existed for more than a thousand years and had hunted down cultists throughout its entire existence. The church's people did not believe in any God and judged that all Gods were evil. They would not show mercy to cultists who believed in the evil deities.

However, this world was enormous. After the great disaster a thousand years ago, the population of various races had withered and scattered. The cultists were also cunning. It was difficult for the church to take care of the overall situation. Therefore, they began to look for external help.

As long as one had a righteous heart, they would be granted the title of a Holy Knight after killing five Bronze-level cultists. They would also be given a badge to dispel most low-level evil spells. Every year, they would receive a certain amount of money from the church. After killing the cultists, they could also go to the church and receive a reward.

None of these were important. What was important was that the Holy Knight's badge was equivalent to a formal identity certificate. The knights could move freely in the territory of the various nobles— it came in handy.

…

"Parr, these are not the most important things. What's important is the talent that you displayed tonight."

Old Jack leaned on the wooden board and raised his head. His expression was a little helpless as he said, "No matter how you fight, you will not get exhausted. With this talent, you have good potential to become a Knight yourself. You are destined to become an excellent one. 

"Even if you do not leave with John in a few days, the lord of this place, Baron White Deer, will come to look for you after receiving the news. It will be difficult for you to leave the village anymore when that time comes. It is not that Baron White Deer will lock you up, but there are too many complicated matters between the nobles. I am worried..."

Sigh!

Old Jack did not finish his sentence. He just let out a long sigh.

"Is that so?"

Old Jack had successfully changed Parr's mind. He turned his head to look at the rising sun in the east. After a long silence, he finally nodded.

"I know. I will explore with Uncle John. However, father..." Parr pointed at the village. He was worried about Old Jack's safety should more cultists come in the future. If he were not here, Haystack Village would be finished.

"Don't worry about that."

John's following words relieved Parr's worries.

"The identities of the two cultists last night have been confirmed. They are cultists from Viscount Bluestone's territory in the west. The bald man is the master of all cultists in this area. I found a list of all the cultists in Viscount Bluestone's territory on his body. I'll go there and kill them all. You won't be attacked again."

"If that's the case, count me in!" Parr smiled in relief.

…

This world was not safe, to begin with. The villagers would sometimes lose their lives to wild beasts. The disaster in Haystack Village this time was equivalent to a large-scale beast attack. Although this event had not occurred for many years, Haystack Village still had some experience dealing with the aftermath.

After the church staff treated the survivors of Haystack Village, they rested for half a day. Then, they began to gather the corpses of the dead villagers.

The villagers who turned into ordinary zombies left behind a complete corpse. The unlucky ones who had not turned into zombies before they were eaten did not even have an entire corpse left. Only pools of blood remained in their place.

After all the corpses were gathered, the cremation process began. This was the most commonly used funeral method for the villagers in this world. A village was not like a town. No one would guard the cemetery every day to prevent the corpses from being pulled out by wild beasts and taken away. Therefore, cremation became the most suitable method.

"..."

The corpses were arranged neatly in front of the Haystack Village cemetery. Plenty of oiled wood was placed under their bodies. After their loved ones said their final farewells, Old Jack threw the torch in his hand. This was his duty as the Haystack Village chief.

The torch instantly ignited the oiled wood. Thick black smoke billowed out along with the flames, blocking everyone's vision. The black smoke dissipated when the flames were extinguished, leaving only ashes on the spot.

The eyes of the living villagers were filled with sorrow. They started to collect the ashes of the dead. Without distinguishing the ashes, they buried them in the deepest corner of the cemetery. A few tombstones were erected, left behind by the previous crises that Haystack Village had experienced. More tombstones would need to be erected soon.

…

After the cremation, Parr went alone to Old Rotes' house at the village's southern end. There would no longer be any sign of Rotes basking in the sun.

After looking at the familiar scene in the courtyard, memories appeared in front of Parr's eyes. He was immersed in it. As an orphan, he enjoyed this feeling very much because Rotes truly treated Parr like his own grandson.

"Master Rotes, I will avenge you."

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Parr woke up from his memories. His eyes revealed a determined gaze, and he walked to the fruit tree nearby.

Dig! 

Parr picked up his tools and started digging. The fruit tree fell to the ground, and dust flew everywhere. He took two steps back and panted a few times. When the dust fell, he walked to the edge of the tree and looked down. He instantly found his target, a rusted iron box.

"What is this?"

After another round of digging, Parr dug out the iron box and put it on the ground. The iron box was about 20 centimeters long and 10 centimeters wide. There were complicated and beautiful patterns under the rust on the surface.

"Hmm..."

After looking at it for a long time, Parr still couldn't find anything special about the iron box. The patterns were just ordinary decorations and didn't have any special functions.

"What could be inside?"

There was no lock on the iron box, but the cracks were rusted. Parr opened it with force.

"A book?"

What greeted Parr's eyes was a thick book. The book was brown and black. There were no words on it. The pages were made from the skin of some unknown animal. It looked like white paper, and there was a vivid picture on it.

"Isn't this a little chicken?"

There was a picture of an animal that Parr was very familiar with on the first page, a little chicken with green feathers. Below the image were the words of the Wind Wolf Kingdom. Parr, who had learned some from Old Jack, could understand the general meaning, which was, "The method of slaughtering a chicken— first, you have to strangle a chicken's neck..."

"What! All this effort for a guide on how to slaughter a chicken?"

Parr flipped through a few more pages. The book recorded the methods of slaughtering all kinds of animals. It was not a martial arts guide that he had been looking forward to! This made him a little disappointed. 

Previously, he had witnessed Rotes' strength, evidenced by the punch that had almost broken through Collin's protective barrier. He had wanted to learn that technique!

"Forget it. If it's not a martial arts manual, then so be it! I'll just consider this book as Rotes' final gift. Although I probably won't be able to use it in the future, I can still update it with more animal slaughtering methods."

Shaking his head, Parr stored the book in his pocket. He stood up and inserted the fruit tree he had pulled out back into its spot. Then, he cleaned the courtyard and house.

"Master Rotes, I'll be leaving now."

Parr uttered words that he knew would receive no response walking out of the yard. He then turned around and left.

…

At night, Parr had just finished eating dinner. He was sitting in the yard and looked up at the stars in the sky. He wanted to find a familiar constellation but failed. Then, he looked at the moon. All he saw was a big white ball that emitted a gentle light.

"This world is weird!"

With a sigh, Parr gave up trying. He looked down at the ground, and his eyes became empty.

"Data!"

The data panel appeared in front of Parr.

Name: Parr Skystar

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Age: 10 (20)

Realm: Elementary Knight Apprentice (0/100)

Stamina: 52/100

Spirit Points: 8/10

HP: 100/100

Talents:

Get Up On Time LVL 1

Bright Eyes LVL 1

Skills:

Wind Wolf Basic Breathing Technique LVL 5

Wind Wolf Basic Sword Drawing Technique LVL 5

Life Energy Points: 78

Spiritual Energy Points: 146

Parr realized that his Stamina and Spirit Points would be gradually consumed throughout his day's activity. This made sense. After all, human activities require energy consumption.

"It's time to improve myself."

…