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Is science nothing but a lie? Is magic the only truth in this world?

“The two are intrinsically the same. They manipulate the world, just in different ways.”

I don’t have time for these philosophical debates, all I want to do now is leave this hell of a city.

“You call this hell? This place still doesn’t qualify.”

What do you mean it doesn’t qualify? There’s a person dying every second in despair. They are either dying in the jaws of those monsters, or in the hands of their own fellow human beings. And then there’s those who are committing suicide because they see no end to this despair… If all that doesn’t qualify this place as hell, what does?

“They die simply because they are weak. Being killed by monsters or their own race only proves they are physically weak. Committing suicide is proof they are mentally weak. Especially those suicidal ones, if it’s not this crisis, there will be another crisis that triggers them… There is no need to feel bad for those who do not treasure what they have.”

Perhaps…

Somehow, it felt like the system was just strong-arming her point, but she wasn’t entirely wrong either. If one couldn’t even love themselves, how could they expect others to do so. If everyone was as powerful as me, they definitely wouldn’t die to those zombies either. Unfortunately, not everyone had the opportunity to undergo enhancements…

“Leaving the city isn’t actually as difficult as our valued host seems to think either. As long as our valued host is willing to force his way through those ghosts, Icy Inferno in hand.”

That’s it?

“That’s it. But this method will only allow our valued host to leave by himself. Because our valued host does not possess the strength required to protect his harem members from the attacks of so many ghosts.”

…

I swept my eyes slowly over the girls…

They seemed to have noticed that I was communicating with the system as well, that was why they remained silent, patiently waiting for an outcome.

There’s no way I can just leave on my own… If it means abandoning the three of them, I would rather stay behind as well!

“Good, at least our valued host has some backbone. As a special service, the system has elected to offer a second option. Please open up the Marketplace. There should be a magic spell called ‘Flame Incarnate’. It’s a skill that creates an aura of fire around a person’s body as a means of defense. It’s a famously useless skill, because fire spells tend to be weaker defensively… But fire is made for attacking in the first place. With how vulnerable those ghosts are to fire, merely touching the flames should prove fatal.”

In other words, even a useless skill can become godlike under the right situations…

I tapped on the skill’s price tag: only a hundred points!

Cheap!

“Because it’s useless.”

Other than flames, what else would counter those ghosts?

“Lightning -essentially any attack that is energy would prove very effective against them.”

I see now. Because they have no physical body, they are afraid of energy attacks, anything you would associate that counters the supernatural.

“Unfortunately, the harem members of our valued host are unable to employ such a skill for now. Trying to do so would result in their deaths.

Hold on… You’re the one who suggested it. And you’re already stealing your own thunder?

“Flame Incarnate requires SP to activate, requires SP to maintain, and requires even more SP when it burns a ghost. How much SP do the members of our valued host’s harem possess?”

Thanks to the system’s reminder, I realised the problem as well. The skill was definitely able to force a path out of the city, but the energy had to be supplied from somewhere.

With how many ghosts there were guarding the exit, allowing the girls to charge in now would be like tossing a match into an ocean… The two weren’t even on the same scale. Even drinking SP potions wouldn’t be able to mend this massive gap.

So you’re suggesting…

“Train. Keep slaying monsters diligently, and by the time you raise your levels somewhat, your harem should be able to leave Southern Plains on their own merits. And if everything goes well, our valued host may even uncover the true mastermind behind this tragedy. If the mastermind is gone, leaving Southern Plains wouldn’t even be an issue.”

Defeat the mastermind? If you ask me, waiting for rescue sounds a lot more reliable… Speaking of rescue, what the heck were those soldiers even doing? Can’t they figure out a way to save those civilians?

“Rather than depend on others, you would be better off relying on yourself.”

All right, all right… the only one you can count on in a pinch is yourself, am I right?

Since my fellow human beings aren’t trustworthy anymore, I can only work harder. Also, if there is a ‘Heaven’ in this world, why hasn’t it acted yet? Look at how many have died already… millions! That’s not a small number.

“Haha. Has our valued host heard of the saying, Heaven is blind?”

I have. What does that have to do with this discussion?

“Then what does our valued host think that saying means?”

That Heaven is impartial and objective?

“Close enough. The laws of this world, or Heaven, is a set of rules laid down by the Creator when he created the world. Such a system has no emotions, so everything in this world is equal in its eyes. Regardless of who stands at the top in the end, it’s just a matter of the natural cause-and-effect.”

Natural? That’s rich, weren’t you saying how the laws of the world were getting warped? Is that still considered natural?

“And how do you know that isn’t a part of the world’s plans?”

…

With my limited knowledge, I had no way to counter that question.

“What is happening now is a clash of two worlds. A fusion of worlds, so to speak!”

Two worlds? Fusion?

“That’s right, the two worlds are already beginning to fuse. As more and more of these invaders intrude upon Gaia, the laws of both worlds would clash even harder… Valued host, I highly suggest that this process be stopped as soon as possible, or the consequences would be dire…”

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE