When we arrived at the Hidden Church, it was rather larger than I expected. The building reminded me of the large Cathedrals that I have seen before when I took a short trip to Europe.

The pews that filled the mostly empty area, seemed to be made of some kind of ivory or porcelain material and they were still pristine white. There were lamps around that seemed to be lit with fire. When we managed to get close enough to one, I reached out my hand towards it.

The warmth of the flame was tolerable and it did not seem too hot. When I poked my finger through it, the fire seemed to have magically bend, creating a hole. The heat radiating that surrounded my finger did not seem to have a burning sensation.

I glanced at Minister Juniper who seemed to be staring at me with a smug face, the kind where your father was prepared to hit you with a dad joke. I glanced back at the flame and moved my finger around. The fire seemed to have no issue moving around to avoid burning.

“What kind of sorcery is this?” I mumbled.

“Hmm?”

“Oh, nothing.”

My face turned slightly red and started feeling hot. Minister Juniper glared at me before sighing.

“Don’t feel embarrassed to ask.”

“O-okay, I’m just curious on how this flame works.”

“This flame is a special kind of ember that is imbued with magic to ensure it doesn’t harm anyone.”

“Well, I can see that.”

“But what you can’t see is how it does it.”

Minister Juniper stuck out his hand and poked his finger through the flames. The hole was smaller than the one I had. When he moved his finger around, he had to be closer to the flame for it to bend around his finger. He then moved his finger out of the flame and started orbiting his finger around the ember. As his finger around it, the flame repelled away from his finger like magnets with similar poles.

“As you can see the flames are trying to get away from your finger.”

“Mhm,”

“But when I started orbiting my finger around it you can see that it is looked like a force is moving it away from your finger.”

I nodded.

“This ‘force’ is your aura, and how large your aura is determined by the amount of Light Essence, Spirit Essence, and Dark Essence in it.”

“I see… that’s amazing.”

“Spirit Essence is rather dense in your aura, but the fact that the force of the flame managed to move the ember in such a way, means you have a lot of Spirit Essence, assuming that you haven’t traded it away from Light Essence or Dark Essence somehow.”

“How would I do that?”

Minister Juniper pointed at the altar that seemed like it was several meters away.

“When we arrived there, I will show you.”

I nodded and continued following him. When we arrived at the altar, I noticed that several priests were standing behind the pillar. Their faces looked like they were wary of me.

When Minister Juniper noticed them, he signaled that it was okay for them to approach. The priests shook their heads, their eyes seemed and an unfriendly frown reminded me of my students whenever it was time for parent-teacher conferences. I looked at the Minister and he looked back at me with a confused expression.

“It seemed like they were ordered to stay away from us.”

“No, these priests are just scared of you.” He replied with a smile.

“Why do you seem so happy about them being scared of me.”

“Because these priests have a unique skill called ‘aura eyes’ that allow them to see your aura without the need for an appraisal stone.”

“Like they can see how much aura I have?”

“Well not exactly, from what I’ve been told, it's like they can see the aura radiating around you.”

I glanced back at the priests. When I made eye contact with one, she hid completely behind the pillar.

“So does that mean my aura is radiating quite a bit?”

“A bit would be an understatement, it seemed like the priests were able to see your aura before they were even in here.”

“Ehh…?”

“If you remember this place was empty when we entered here. Meaning the aura radiating from you must be larger than most of the man-eating monsters of this world.”

“Does that mean?”

“The ritual that brought you to this world was a complete success and you do have 10,000 Spirit Essence from the 10,000 souls… now isn’t that exciting.”

“What was that last part?”

“N-nothing.” He cleared his throat. “Now priests and priestesses, please bring the current Head Bishop of the Hidden Church.”

I noticed one of the priests popped out the pillar and made a run towards a door.

“Now while we wait for the Head Bishop, is there anything that you want to know about this magnificent area?”

“How was building this place possible?”

“It is said that this Church was built during the reign of Empress Echidna to reward the priests that aided the refugees after their cities were destroyed by Great Beasts.”

“Great Beasts?”

“Giant Beasts that used to roam this world a millennia ago. Empress Echidna and her comrades, the ‘Heroes of Neverworld’, as we called them, managed to drive them to extinction.”

“Sounds like Empress Echidna used to be a good person… I wondered what drove her to slaughter 80% of the world’s population.”

Minister Juniper's eyes seemed to have widened for a second before he shook his head.

“Do you perhaps… know?”

“N-no… anyways as you can see the Head Bishop is heading towards us, so prepare yourself.”

I looked towards the direction that the Minister was looking at, and I saw an old man with a little girl following behind him. The old man seemed like he was youthful, with his wide grin, and his nearly wrinkle-free face. His robe was littered with gold patterns that contrasted the white color. The little girl behind him seemed about 3 years old. Her eyes seemed bright and filled with joy.

When the bishop arrived, he stared at me before turning to Minister Juniper and bowing. The little girl behind him followed his actions.

“What brings you here today Minister Juniper?”