Adam meticulously observed the priest, concluding that he was the Abbot of the south district church.
The structure of the Holy Sound Church was not complicated; for local churches, priests did not have distinct divisions of labour, mostly being referred to as priests, and then their rank was determined by factors such as merit, mastery of divine authority, and years since joining the church.
Although all were called priests, the specifications of their hierarchy robes differed. For example, newly joined priests usually had only one pattern on their collar, while senior priests could have three.
Only senior priests were qualified to preside over a local church, and priests who presided over churches were also called abbots. Only abbots could have patterns embroidered on their cuffs.
The benevolent abbot slowly bent down, took out a cracker from the cabinet, and enthusiastically placed it in front of Adam, calling him to eat like a kind old grandfather from next door.
"You've been working all day; you must be hungry. Have something to eat first."
Adam understood that the risks of using Fra to enter the church were now apparent. Although the Holy Sound Church had made many concessions over the years due to the rise of aristocratic power, with some monks even being corrupted by nobles, there were still many formidable individuals within it.
Adam appropriately showed hesitation, saying timidly, "No, my aunt and uncle at home left food for me."
"It's fine; young people should eat more." The abbot pulled open the curtains, stood by the window, and looked at the scene outside.
"Then thank you, priest." Adam did not refuse further, picked up the cracker, and ate it in a few bites.
"No hurry, I have plenty more here." The Abbot narrowed his eyes, smiling kindly, and then spoke, "Priest Fra is a young man I think highly of; his soul has never been tainted. Therefore, I wanted to see the kind of person he recommended. What kind of soul does he possess?"
Adam looked at the remaining crackers on the table, seemingly embarrassed to take a second one. Hearing the abbot's words, he asked in confusion, "Soul?"
"That's right." The Abbot tapped on the window, turned his head, and looked at Adam, saying, "Initially, there's no difference in a person's soul."
"It's just that from the moment they are born into this world, everything they experience affects that soul."
"You are currently learning painting with Alva, so I'll use painting as an analogy. A person's soul is originally an empty canvas, their experiences are the various colours of paint, and the choices made regarding these experiences are the paintbrush."
"It determines how you accept your experiences, and it also determines the appearance of your soul."
"Some people compose it into an epic, some transform it into a sun to warm others, while some people's souls are like sinking into foul-smelling mud. So what about you?" The Abbot's eyes seemed to be able to see through people's hearts, directly into Adam's soul: "Adam, what will your soul be like?"
"I... I don't know." Adam lowered his head, seemingly afraid to meet the Abbot's eyes. He gripped his pants, forcibly suppressing his panic, and spoke according to what he had prepared through countless self-hypnosis sessions: "I just want to live a little better; I don't want to wander around again."
"Then may God's glory bless you and keep you from being lost." The Abbot's broad hand pressed on Adam's head, and his voice at this moment became grand, as if countless bells were ringing, or countless holy spirits and angels were surrounding them, chanting hymns.
Looking at Adam, who became more peaceful under his palm, the Abbot relaxed his brow, withdrew his hand, and shuffled his feet to the cabinet again, rummaging inside.
"Let me see, Puldo brought some dried fruit last time..." The Abbot muttered, "Where did I put it? I remember it was right here."
Adam was startled awake, a bit flustered, and quickly said, "Priest, please don't bother; it's getting late. I need to go home quickly..."
"Found it!" As if he had discovered a great treasure, the abbot laughed and pulled out a bag of dried fruit from the cabinet. He exhaled, completely disregarding Adam's refusal, and took out a large handful to put into Adam's arms.
"Be careful on your way; go home early. Come early tomorrow; Alva hates latecomers, even though he can't even remember people's names."
"Tomorrow I'll have a word with him..." The verbose abbot completely lacked the dignity of a superior in charge of a local church.
Adam could only hold the dried fruit and, after thanking him, hurried home.
After Adam left, the Abbot took out a cracker, tore it into small pieces, and put them into his mouth, lowering his head as if deep in thought.
A priest walked in from outside the door, quietly asking about the situation.
"He's an ambitious person, and there's indeed a suspicion that he's using priest Fra," the Abbot sighed, saying.
"Then I'll stop him at the door tomorrow," the priest frowned, saying unhappily.
"No need, Rob, no need." The Abbot shook his head: "Everyone has their own path to walk. Ambition isn't necessarily a bad thing; what's important is the choice of the heart. Fra needs to grow, and Adam needs salvation. I believe they are both good children and can grasp the light under God's glory, making their souls brilliant."
...
"I almost exposed myself." Adam knew that anyone who could serve as an abbot in a border city like Roya wouldn't be a simple character, but he hadn't expected the other party to be so terrifying.
If Adam hadn't been special, even other pure-blooded werewolves would probably have been unable to restrain themselves, transforming on the spot and then being slapped to death.
Within that old man's body, there was terrifying holy power. This level of holy power was not common. Adam only felt the sideways V-shaped scar on his face burning, a bone-deep pain that almost made him unable to suppress a scream.
"I must speed up!" Adam was very clear about one thing: his identity was not flawless. Adam Cooper's birthplace was some distance from Roya, but as long as someone investigated, given some time, they could still find out that he was not the real Adam.
"But I also need to be careful not to arouse suspicion again." This time, by using priest Fra to enter the church, Adam had already made the Abbot suspicious, leading to a test.
If he showed any more anomalies, the other party would probably investigate him thoroughly.
The kind of spy in TV shows from his previous life who was suspected countless times, cleared countless times, and eventually gained the other party's trust did not exist. The higher up one was, the less they believed in coincidences.
If a suspicion was cleared once, it might indeed make the other party think it was a misunderstanding and trust you, but if you were suspected two or three times, your undercover career would end.
"My soul will never stay here; even without God's so-called glory, I will crown it and make it incomparably noble!" Recalling the Abbot's words, Adam sensed the werewolf bloodline within him, which the church called the bloodline of sin, yet showed no unusual expression on his face.
Before it was completely dark, Adam returned home, put the dried fruit into a jar, and called Lina to eat.
Messing up the little girl's hair again and then carefully tying it up once more, Adam's heart gradually calmed down.
He began to review the day's gains from going to the church in his mind.
'I was slightly careless, overestimating my concealment ability. If I had prepared earlier, I could have handled today's situation more steadily.'
'Brother Jim has exploitable aspects, and there's also Earl Rupert; I heard information about him when I was eavesdropping on Baron Mansla's mansion.'
'I need to understand Otherkind more deeply, so it will be easier to find and subdue them later.' Adam gradually made deductions: 'The power I control is simply too little; this is my disadvantage.'
'My advantage lies in my stealth and my method of concealing bloodline abnormalities. Now I can add that I have infiltrated the south district church.'
'So, the next step is to leverage my advantages to gain more initiative and then compensate for my disadvantages.'
'Of course, there's also the biggest problem: time.' Adam smiled, pinched Lina's cheek, and after feeding her another piece of dried fruit, he decisively covered and put away the jar. Seeing Lina's mouth watering, he pulled out another piece for Lina to eat slowly.
'With my previous arrangements – I don't know how long they can be misled. Once they find their way to Roya, with their understanding of my actions, they should be able to find me quickly.'
Thinking of this, Adam looked out the window at the night sky, where a crescent moon was slowly rising