World's Last Hope-Chapter 48: Upgrades
’Huh, that’s weird,’ he thought, looking at the open window.
Left with no choice, he glanced at his remaining essence.
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[Current Essence: 5000]
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Killing the guardian had rewarded him with a lot, so he could afford to ask his system a question or two without fearing sudden death.
’Why are most of the miracles still locked?’
[The god has awoken but is in a severely weakened state, so the number of accessible miracles is limited as a result.]
’Still, isn’t that too low?’ he thought, noting there seemed to be only two miracles available.
’Beggars can’t be choosers, I guess.’
He was about to check the miracles when a sudden thought crossed his mind.
’How many cathedrals are there to be liberated in the world?’
[Answering the question will require a large amount of essence. Are you certain?]
Eric raised an eyebrow. "How much?"
[1000 essence]
His eyes widened in awe.
’A thousand?!’ he nearly stumbled over his own feet.
’But this might be valuable information... and I can afford it, so...’ He took a deep breath.
’Answer the question.’
[Most of the world has fallen, so these are the current statistics:]
[Cathedrals in humanity’s possession: 25]
[Cathedrals in corruption’s possession: 2377]
[Cathedrals in ERROR’s possession: 23]
Eric raised an eyebrow. "Again with this damned ERROR. What the hell?" he muttered.
’When will you stop showing me this ’ERROR’ and reveal the actual entity behind it?’
[When the soul of the host evolves enough times to strengthen the system.]
He sighed in frustration. ’I guess one time isn’t enough. I have to evolve even more.’
Left with nothing better to focus on, he finally shifted his full attention to the miracles.
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[God’s Merciful Hand]
Desperation: Life is the only priceless thing in the world, so isn’t it a miracle to preserve it?
Positives:
Upon touch, you can heal the injuries of an individual, proportional to your soul strength.
Negatives:
How could a miracle from God have a downside?
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’A healing ability? This seems useful, but it says it works on a individual and not host. I guess that means I can’t heal myself,’ Eric thought as he shifted his eyes toward the price.
[Price: 40 Soul Points]
’If I bought this, I’d have 20 left...’ Not wanting to rush his decision, he shifted his gaze to the other miracle.
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[The Nature is Mother to All]
Desperation: Isn’t life all the same? Does it matter whether it’s a moving organism or a plant?
Positives:
You can heal nature from corruption and exhaustion.
Your healing significantly speeds up plant growth.
Negatives:
How could a miracle from God have a downside?
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’Plants?’ Eric raised an eyebrow. At first glance, it didn’t look very useful, but in a world where most life was extinct, that included plants. Food was likely hard to come by.
’No, not likely... certainly,’ Eric thought, remembering the day he was transported to this world and how the grandmasters argued about the best way to solve the problem of starvation among the people.
’This would come in handy in the future... especially.’
His eyes shifted to the price.
[Price: 20 Soul Points]
’I can buy this, and it would leave me at zero... but I think it’s worth it.’
Having made up his mind, he moved his finger and clicked on the miracles.
"These will be useful," he muttered, adding them to his arsenal.
Having bought the necessary necessities, Eric began to look around, still amazed by the transformation.
Before, the center of the volcano was a hostile place, with the fear of death lurking around every corner. But now, it looked like a peaceful land out of a fairy tale.
Not only that, but the area’s location in the center of a volcano meant the tall mountains acted as natural walls, protecting them from potential dangers.
Eric didn’t know exactly how they were going to populate the area, but it could be turned into an effective fortress by utilizing the rugged terrain.
"And to think this is just from one cathedral. How would the land change once all the cathedrals were liberated?" Eric asked himself.
Right now, the idea of liberating all the thousands of cathedrals sounded like a pipe dream. But then again, so had the plan to get here.
And yet, they did.
If he and his companions had managed to do the impossible once, why couldn’t they do it a second time? A third time?
After all, to truly rid the world of corruption, they would need to liberate all the cathedrals in the world.
But surprisingly enough, Eric found his thoughts shifting to something else entirely.
There was a third entity capable of possessing cathedrals, and they owned almost as many as all of humanity combined.
What were they? Some other life form? Were they hostile?
Why hadn’t the goddess who summoned him here mentioned them? Did she deem them of lesser importance, or was there another reason?
"Questions upon questions..." Eric muttered.
Thinking about so many things in the middle of a death zone was exhausting.
Well, technically, they weren’t in a death zone anymore, since the land around them was free of corruption.
But there was always the possibility of something sneaking into the area and attacking them.
So everyone had to stay on guard at all times—no exceptions.
Suddenly, without looking where he was walking, Eric bumped into Aria.
’Shit, it’s like I just hit a wall.’
"Sorry," Eric muttered under his breath, still a little dazed, only to see that Aria was motionless, her sword already summoned and ready for combat.
So was Olivia.
"Hey, Eric," Aria said, her voice full of wariness.
"You remember that thing you said follows you, right?"
"Yes, what about it?" Eric asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, I think it just found us."
"Wh—"
He was about to say something when his system interrupted him.
[Warning]
[ERROR has gotten closer.]
[Estimated distance: 1000m...]
[950m...]
[900m...]
Eric’s body shivered as he felt goosebumps all over. He muttered under his breath, "Fuck."
