CHAPTER 82: RECRUITING

Riley blinked, a bit shocked by her words.

’I didn’t expect them to approach me so fast,’ he thought, eyeing the girl from head to toe.

She stood there with that same gentle smile, her orange and red robes flowing softly in the wind.

Her blond hair framed her soft face, and her hand still held the pamphlet out to him with patience.

She tilted her head slightly, as if trying to ease his hesitation.

"I understand if you don’t want to join right now," she said kindly. "But will you at least come over to the church... even if it’s just once?"

Riley’s gaze dropped to the white pamphlet.

He gulped, his throat tightening for a second.

He let out a quiet sigh and shook his head. "I’ll have to refuse."

For a moment, the world felt still.

The woman didn’t move, standing still for a few seconds.

"...What do you mean you refuse?" she asked.

Her tone was still soft, however, a sharp glint flashed across her eyes.

Her expression twisted slightly. Her lips stiffened, her cheek twitched, and her gaze hardened unnaturally—almost too quickly.

Riley noticed it all.

But in the next heartbeat, it was gone, and the warm expression returned to her face like it had never left.

She smiled again, this time even more warmly than before. "Like I said... You don’t have to join now. You can just visit it."

Her voice was gentle again, but something about it sounded a little... hollow this time.

Riley stood still, the faint breeze rustling past him.

"I’m not interested in joining the church," he said flatly.

The woman’s brows twitched slightly.

Her smile wavered once more—but this time, it didn’t disappear.

She nodded slowly, though her eyes never left his face.

"That’s fine," she said softly. "It’s your choice."

And then, without another word, she turned around, the folds of her robe fluttering behind her as she began walking away into the crowd.

Ding!

A sudden system prompt floated in front of Riley.

[Your Reputation with the ’Church of Fire’ has been greatly affected!]

[Reputation with "Church of Fire" has shifted: Friendly → Neutral!]

Riley narrowed his eyes at the notification, then shifted his gaze back to the woman’s retreating figure.

He then dismissed the notification with a flick of his fingers, letting out a low sigh.

He had barely moved five steps into the city, and he had already drawn the attention of one of the churches.

However, it wasn’t just him.

As he scanned the bustling crowd of players filing into Montville, he noticed several more orange and red-robed priests weaving through the city entrance.

They approached players—some with pamphlets, others with warm smiles and gentle greetings.

A few players politely accepted the invitations, while others brushed them off or walked away with awkward laughter.

’They’re recruiting like crazy,’ Riley thought, his brows furrowing slightly.

’Strange...’ he mused to himself. ’They never bothered to approach me in my past life... not even once.’

The memory made his eye twitch slightly.

Even though he entered late, he had still walked through the city like everyone else, doing the little he could to level up and grind.

But none of their members had so much as looked in his direction.

And now?

They were the ones initiating conversation.

Riley’s lips twitched, and he mumbled inwardly, ’So... they ignored me all those times because they felt I was useless?!’

The Church of Fire was mainly associated with promising players and potential powerhouses. If someone didn’t look like they were going to make it far, they’d be left alone.

’So that’s what it was, huh?’ he thought with a wry smile. ’I guess they weren’t exactly wrong.’

His gaze shifted upward—toward a particularly tall building in the distance, standing proud among the structures that surrounded it.

Unlike the others, which were built in shades of blue, brown, or grey, this one gleamed like it had been carved from pure white marble.

It towered above most of the city, and at its centre, was the image of a cross, with golden rays of sunlight spreading from behind it.

The image was majestic, giving off quite a holy glow especially with the sun shining down on it.

Riley’s eyes narrowed slightly.

’The Church of Light...’ he thought.

His gaze lingered for a moment before slowly turning to the east, where another structure rose not too far from the first.

This one wasn’t as tall, but still impressive in its own right.

The exterior was darker—made of smooth stone with red and copper highlights running along the edges.

At its centre, was the image of a crimson flaming ring, etched deep into the wall with molten-red ink that seemed to flicker like real fire.

’The Church of Fire...’ Riley thought to himself, recognising the symbol immediately.

Two major factions—each backed by one of the powerful gods that ruled over different elements.

Though [Apocalypse] was known to be mainly about monsters and demons, there were other forces and existences within the game.

One of them were the gods, extremely powerful beings known to sit atop the whole universe.

Each god had followers, and could bestow blessings upon their followers depending on their ’rank’ or ’value’.

During the war with demons, many players decided to place their beliefs in gods, hoping to gain more power and protection.

However, even the gods were terrified of the demon lord’s wrath, and many of them cast their followers aside.

One of the many who had done so was the god of fire, even going as far as to withdraw the blessing he bestowed upon those on earth.

This alone pushed mankind into more despair, feeling that if even gods were terrified of the demon lord despite all the power they had, then there was no hope for them.

The only god who had helped humanity was the goddess of light, mainly because of Terry, who had a deep connection to her due to his talent—Golden Holy Knight.

Though she didn’t come down to earth to fight the demons herself, she further strengthened Terry’s talent, even giving him a Divine weapon.

That same weapon was what he used when fighting the Demon Lord—Soulpiercer, the Divine Spear.