Chapter 291
Chapter 291. Church
In the few days after Ella’s arm was healed, this incident seemed to have ignited the villagers’ enthusiasm.
Not only did the workers who had already been doing the construction seem as if they had been injected with boundless vigor, working even harder than before, but the other villagers also came over of their own accord to help.
As a result, Fulan had originally estimated that the church’s repairs would take a week to complete, yet to her surprise, everything was finished in only three days.
Fulan stood before the stone platform where the divine statue would be placed and looked at the fully repaired scene before her.
The walls and floor had been completely renewed, and almost no damage or filth could be seen. In front of the stone platform, several rows of seats had also been added.
Even the stone platform in front of Fulan had been wiped until it gleamed.
At that moment, heavy footsteps came from the entrance. Fulan raised her eyes and saw a stone roughly two meters tall being carried in horizontally.
The person carrying the stone pillar was none other than Anna. She was holding the stone pillar above her head with both hands, carrying it step by step from outside the village.
Because the stone pillar had been located somewhat far from the village, even Anna, as a First-Tier Professional, could not avoid panting slightly.
“You only need to stand this thing upright on the platform,” Fulan instructed Anna.
Anna glanced at it and made a slight judgment of the current situation before saying:
“Let me rest for a while first. I’m afraid that if I make one mistake later, I’ll wreck this place.”
Anna had also exhausted some of her strength, and she wanted to rest first before doing this work.
But when she tried to put the stone pillar down, she suddenly could no longer feel its weight. This made her panic at once, and she wondered if she had accidentally let go.
However, the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground never came, which made her look toward the bottom of the stone statue in confusion.
Only then did she suddenly discover that Fulan was actually holding the stone statue with both hands.
Then Fulan lifted the stone statue into the air, producing a faint sound of air being torn apart.
After that, Anna saw Fulan support the stone statue with one hand, then use the other hand to rotate it, adjusting the stone statue into an upright position.
Anna’s mouth fell open. She watched Fulan’s movements, completely unable to imagine that Fulan, a mage, also possessed such great strength.
“Are mages from the Sword Chant School different from other mages? Why does it feel like her strength is even greater than mine?”
Anna’s eyes were full of confusion. Although she had long known that Fulan’s strength was actually not small, back when Fulan used her sword to attack the skeletons, Anna had already felt that Fulan’s attacks dealt very high damage.
But at the time, Anna had thought that Fulan had used some spell that dealt special damage to the undead, or that the longsword itself specifically countered undead creatures.
Now, however, it seemed that Fulan did not need anything like that at all. As long as she swung that sword, her powerful strength would tear those undead creatures apart.
Fulan carefully placed the stone pillar upright on the platform. When she let go, Fulan loosely held the stone statue for a moment, confirming that it had truly stabilized before she released her hands.
Fulan turned around and saw that Anna had already sat down on a long bench, her eyes wide as she watched Fulan’s movements.
Fulan said somewhat helplessly:
“You were a little slow. I’ve been waiting here for quite a while.”
Anna continued staring wide-eyed at Fulan, so Fulan could only say:
“All right, rest here. I’m going to start carving the divine statue.”
Anna raised her brows, somewhat unable to understand what Fulan meant by this.
Anna had once passed through White Dragon Harbor, so naturally, she had seen the statue of the Goddess of the Currents there. She was very clear on how difficult it was to carve a divine statue.
First, the raw material for the divine statue would be placed in a quiet room and carved by the professional craftsmen of the Church of the Goddess of the Currents.
After the craftsmen finished the carving, the believers of the Church of the Goddess of the Currents had to be extremely careful during the transportation process.
If the statue was dropped or bumped, the craftsmen would have to carve it all over again.
They would not send the divine statue directly into the church and have the craftsmen carve it there, even though that would be much more convenient.
But the people of the Church of the Goddess of the Currents believed that the place where the divine statue was installed was sacred, so craftsmen were not allowed to enter.
Moreover, before the divine statue arrived, many believers of noble status had to pray to the Goddess of the Currents. One could not afford to delay those people’s time.
Therefore, before the divine statue arrived, a small divine statue was used as a substitute. After the divine statue was carved, it would then be transported inside.
Fortunately, this was a magical world, and those Church Knights could lift a five-meter-tall divine statue by themselves.
Otherwise, merely transporting it safely and without damage would be a problem, let alone placing the divine statue inside the church.
Fulan’s words made Anna somewhat puzzled, because this not only violated the divine statue creation process Anna knew, but Anna also did not know whether Fulan could carve this divine statue properly.
After all, even the most devout believers had to admit that when it came to carving a divine statue, it was still most suitable to leave it to craftsmen. That was why the believers of the Goddess of the Currents had no choice but to let craftsmen carve divine statues.
But Anna remembered that Fulan was a mage, and merely a mage who stood out more in combat. Could Fulan really carve this divine statue well?
At that moment, a very abstract divine statue carved by Fulan appeared in Anna’s mind: a horizontal line for the mouth, a vertical line for the nose, and two eyes that were blackened circles inside circles that were not even round.
This scene made her laugh aloud, drawing Fulan’s voice, which carried a trace of anger.
“I am focusing on my work. Don’t disturb me. If you want to laugh, go outside and laugh!!”
“Sorry! I’m truly sorry.”
Anna also knew that her behavior just now had been improper. No matter what kind of work Fulan ultimately made, she should not disturb her while she was focusing on making it.
Then Anna looked at Fulan with an apologetic expression. Just as she was about to say more words of apology, she saw a scene that made her suspect time had been accelerated.
Had a lot of time passed while she walked down and let her thoughts wander just now? Anna’s face was full of confusion, but she soon knew that time had not been accelerated, and that only a short time had passed.
Anna saw Fulan’s Mana, which had almost condensed into a solid form, moving rapidly across the stone pillar. In nearly an instant, it could shave off a large chunk of stone.
And judging from Fulan’s movements, she seemed very familiar with carving. After only a few motions, Anna saw the rough outline of a face appear before her eyes.
Then, under Anna’s shocked gaze, she saw Fulan carve out a face in only ten short minutes. It was like a petrified human face, vivid and lifelike.
What shocked Anna even more was not only Fulan’s outstanding carving skill. During Fulan’s carving process, there was no sound of any stone fragments falling to the ground.
Only when a piece of stone fell did Anna see that the stone had been caught by an illusory hand that appeared out of nowhere, then placed behind the stone statue.
After Fulan finished carving the entire face and began working on the hair, Anna saw two small stone pillars appear behind the statue.
Then, after Fulan finished carving the hair, Anna could see what seemed to be two pieces of cloth appearing behind the statue, extending outward from its back.
When Fulan finished carving the upper body, Anna saw two pairs of unpolished wings shaped like feathers appear behind the stone statue.
By the time Fulan finished carving the stone statue and turned around, she saw Anna standing there in a daze with her mouth wide open, drool even flowing from the corner of her mouth.
Only after Fulan turned around did Anna come back to her senses. She looked at the divine statue Fulan had just finished carving, and her heart was full of shock.
“You actually know carving techniques too?!”
“This divine statue is really well made.”
After thinking for a long time, Anna only managed to come up with those two sentences, making Fulan shake her head as she looked at her.
“All right, the divine statue is finished. Later, go inform those who want to come. Tonight, this church will officially open.”
Anna sat up from the chair and looked outside. Only then did she realize in shock that the sky outside was still very bright, and the sun had not yet set.
When she had been transporting the stone statue, Anna had been wondering how many days Fulan would need to finish carving it.
She had even wondered whether Fulan would carve until nightfall on the first day.
But the truth was that Fulan had finished carving it before the sun even set. This made another trace of admiration appear in Anna’s eyes as she looked at Fulan.
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Ella entered the church Anna had told her about with a little nervousness. The moment she stepped inside, Ella felt that the divine statue before her was somewhat different.
She seemed able to see something on the divine statue before her, but when she blinked, she could only see the divine statue reflected in the thatched house.
Several companions from the village had also come with Ella. They looked at the divine statue inside the house, seeming curious as to why a divine statue had suddenly appeared here.
But when they carefully examined this divine statue, they were unconsciously and deeply drawn to it. Their eyes did not move away from it for even a second.
Before they stepped into the church, what they felt was the cold wind of the Northern Frontier.
It was already late at night now, and logically speaking, no fool would choose to go out at such a time.
They were among the few people who could withstand that bitter cold and come here. When they entered the church, they subconsciously wanted to look for a furnace.
But when they looked around, they did not see any place that gave off intense red light or heat. All they saw were the candlesticks lit on the walls. The light they emitted was extremely faint, as if it would disappear in the next second.
Even more miraculous was that, although the light was clearly so dim, they could see the condition of the entire house clearly, including all the details on the divine statue.
“Come forward.”
Fulan stood beneath the divine statue and spoke to this group of people. Without thinking, they walked in front of Fulan.
At this moment, outside the church, the originally dark corners of the walls brightened slightly. More importantly, some of the accumulated snow around the house had melted away.