Turns out if I wanted to gather information, buy one of those unique weapons, or even get training, then avoiding the devotion counter was not going to be a part of my plans.

  They didn’t accept money here…fine…but why was payment only accepted from what the Acolyte described as ‘Acts of Revigas.’ I didn’t even get a chance to ask what the hell that was before the Acolyte began to explain it all on his own accord.

  “Acts of Revigas you see young Freddy, are a very special thing to the Church as I’m sure you could imagine. I won’t bore you with the details, but there is no greater form of payment that we could ever receive.

  “If you hadn’t guessed it already, Revigas is the being that which we serve, and it is whom deserves all acts of devotion. Of course for those that are not apart of our great Church, then perhaps asking you to devote yourself to Revigas is a bit too much.

  “Though if you wished to do so on your own accord, then by all means we would welcome you with open arms without a moments delay.”

  I just looked at him as he went silent for a few seconds, probably trying to see if I would suddenly start devoting myself to that…person.

  Regardless of what my religious beliefs were prior to all of this happening, and even regardless of my jokes with Rakeon…this was a new reality, and I didn’t doubt for a second that then gods were real, or at least beings so powerful they might as well be gods.

  Who knows if saying their name would make them look at me or something. I’d rather not have that kind of attention…at least not in the same breath…or thought that I was refusing to devote myself to them.

  Anyway, Acolyte Aranda continued without missing a beat almost as if he expected my silence.

  “But, again we realize that is unreasonable, hence something called Acts of Revigas. The Church of Revigas values quite a few thing different things, but at the very precipice of those values likes the Value of Grind.”

  After saying that he and all 5 hooded figures behind the counters, slammed a palm to their chest while making a very short but deep humming sound. I almost fucking jumped. Honestly I don’t even know if the ones behind the counters used arms or not cause I couldn’t see, but that’s what Acolyte Aranda did.

  “I apologize for the fright young Freddy, but when we speak of the Values of the Church of Revigas, then it is important we show the proper respect, as these values are what we live, breath, and die by.”

  I smiled wryly hoping he didn’t realize just how much that shit scared me. Not scared as in I was afraid, but who the hell would’ve thought that they would do that in the middle of his little explanation? No one sane I hope.

  “Now where was I…that particular value is the core principle behind a lot of other teachings in the Church of Revigas, and we truly appreciate those who take it upon themselves to grind and grind and grind and then grind some more.

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  “Which is why the Gauntlet Dungeon is something we greatly love bringing to new frontiers.”

  Wait did he just say bringing…well there’s a free peace of important information. The Church of Revigas brought the Dungeon here. How did that even work and were all other Dungeons like that? Some random group brought them here? For what purpose?

  “Which brings me to the crux of the matter…Acts of Revigas, are just doing things Revigas will value and then having the Altar of Devotion judge these acts. Once the judgement is completed a certain value will be assessed to whatever Act of yours you did, and it will dictate just what you can purchase at the other counters.

  “Do not fret though, if one has not completed any Acts of Revigas, then the Altar of Devotion simply won’t react, and there is no harm in attempting to be judged.

  “Now seeing as you were the first, and so far the only one to reach beyond Battle 50, I will give you a free piece of advice. Receive your judgement and allowing your Acts to be valued accordingly, I then recommend you to spend it all at the counter of Training.

  “Though this is only advice, and you would always benefit greatly at spending that Act of Revigas at any other counter, the choice will always be yours and yours alone.

  “Either way that brings us to the end of the tour young Freddy, I hope it was most enjoyable for you, and if you need me, well I’ll be right here, please never feel like you cannot approach me, for it is my purpose to support you and all who enter after you.”

  The creepy smile made its way back onto his face in full force after that last line, and I had to do my best not to let it bother me, well not show that it bothered me, cause it definitely did.

  But now I got a problem.

  Making use of these counters, particularly the information one, didn’t seem all that accessible now. Ignoring the fact how weird and oddly relatable this Church was considering it greatly valued the art of grinding, I don’t know if it was a good idea to let it judge me…whatever that meant.

  …But what choice did I have? By my calculations, not many. The potential positives from getting information from a group of people that could bring a whole Dungeon to Earth didn’t seem like something I wanted to pass up. I already planned to take risks, might as well go full throttle with it.

  So…do I take his advice?

  I took a glance out of the corner of my eye and he really was still standing there with that same smile on his face, I hurriedly looked away pretending I didn’t feel the awkwardness lingering in the air from being caught taking a look at him.

  Alright…I’m going to let them judge me, but I thought the most valuable thing here would be information and learning about the world and potentially the red people and how to get them off our planet once and for all.

  But…that didn’t mean training from an obviously powerful organization was going to be a bad thing. In fact, I doubt it would be anything short of an extremely beneficial experience. Now considering its on the recommendation of someone that is supposedly here to help me, would it be such a bad choice after all?

  Hm...let’s not think about this any further I don’t want to accidentally raise any crazy flags.

  Let’s get judged.

  I looked over at Acolyte Aranda proper this time and he seemed to perk up slightly.

  “I’d like to get judged please.”

  “Ah excellent choice young Freddy, whenever you’re ready just step up to the counter of Devotion and place any hand on the counter. The Altar of Devotion will activate on its own.”

  I did as asked and walked right up to the counter, then without a lick of hesitation mostly because I didn’t want to talk myself out of doing this, I placed my left hand on the counter.

  It immediately started to heat up.

  Hm.