World's Last Hope-Chapter 93: The Air of Desperation

Because Eric and Gryndor were far from the mining district, they entered a building with a teleportation circle.

Eric felt a great interest in how these things function—if they were the use of some kind of magical contraption or if they were some kind of miracle—but he decided that this was a conversation for a later date.

"We are getting close," Gryndor spoke as they walked forward.

But in truth, Eric didn’t need that information, because he felt it in his lungs. The air was becoming polluted—hard to breathe—so it was obviously they were closing in on the mining district.

Eric observed his surroundings. From what he saw, the buildings around the area looked old and unkempt. Though it wasn’t surprising, they were close to the mining district—who would want to live close to the polluted air?

Shifting his gaze to the sky, he noticed that it was harder to see, most likely due to the pollution. This was no doubt one of the reasons why the hardest job was in the mining district.

Just the look of the sky made Eric’s mood sour, as if it wasn’t low enough already.

"There is something that you should know," the old man spoke as he saw that they were getting close.

Eric shifted his gaze to the Grandmaster and listened to his advice.

"Most of the people will be desperate. If they learn you are a Master, while most of them would hide—most likely due to respect—there would be some individuals that are close to their breaking point and may approach you with the intention to attack."

Eric raised an eyebrow. "But aren’t we supposed to be respected? Why would anybody attack us, especially when they know they don’t have much of a chance against us?" he asked.

Gryndor sighed. "Because they are desperate. They have lived in horrible conditions for a long time. As such, they see us—people that fight the corruption—with jealousy, as they also want to have a life with more comfort. In their eyes, risking their lives would be better than slaving away all their lives in the mines with no hope for a better future."

Eric scoffed. "They only think that way because they haven’t seen what the corruption looks like up close."

"That may be true," the old man admitted, "but still, they wouldn’t care about that. Just keep your guard up."

Eric nodded as they continued forward.

Soon, they reached the mines.

There were a lot of entrances going underground, with hundreds of old pickaxes that stood ready to be picked up.

Eric counted about a dozen men that had come out and had put a part of the ores on the ground.

"Is that gold? They are mining gold?" he asked as he glanced at Gryndor.

"Yes, it is indeed gold. I have heard that the material was a rare ore in your old world, but here, it is commonly found," the old man explained.

"What else do they mine here?" Eric asked.

"Aside from gold, there are places that mine coal, but the biggest ones are the places where they mine silver."

Eric raised an eyebrow. "Silver?"

"Yes, we have done some testing and have concluded that silver is the best material to use against the corruption. It is not only easy to refine, but it is also very effective against the corruption," the Grandmaster explained.

A few miners were staring daggers at Eric and Gryndor, so they left, as Eric wanted to check the other places where they mined resources.

First, they stopped at the coal mines, and unsurprisingly, the air was even more polluted than before, and Eric was having difficulty breathing.

Around the area, there were close to a hundred people, all painted black by the coal ores.

Eric had to admit that he was impressed. Just staring and watching them from a distance, he was already having difficulty breathing. He shifted his gaze to the mines, from which polluted air was coming out.

But what about inside the mines themselves? He shuddered at trying to imagine how it would feel to enter—not to mention that these people were working there for more than 15 hours a day.

Eric couldn’t help but grunt his teeth in regret. The reason was simple, he was from Earth, a place where humanity had managed to use machines to make the act of mining much easier and more efficient.

If he was a smart person, he could have attempted to recreate these technologies here... no, any technology that he could introduce to this world would have been helpful by a ton. But he was just an 18-year-old man. He might have lived in a world that was very advanced, but he himself didn’t know how these things functioned.

Sighing in regret, he and Gryndor went to the last mines—the silver ones.

Curiously enough, in here the air was the cleanest out of all the mines—of course, even if it was cleaner, it didn’t mean that Eric’s lungs didn’t burn every time he took a breath.

Looking at the miners work may have looked meaningless from the side, but in truth, it was important that Eric took a glance at the average person in this world and their living conditions.

This information was important, as it would determine his actions going forward.

He shifted his gaze to the old man as he spoke, "I think I have seen enough. Let’s go back and start the sparring."

Gryndor nodded as they began to head back but were suddenly stopped by a voice behind them.

"Excuse me!"

Shifting his gaze backward, Eric saw a man with a height similar to his own, with brown eyes and black hair.

Gryndor grimaced, as he was probably expecting trouble. "What is your name, and what is your reason for speaking to us?"

The man trembled under the Grandmaster’s gaze as he spoke, "My name is Kyle, sir."

The voice of the man was timid but at the same time bore a hint of excitement.

"And I think I have awakened."