World's Last Hope-Chapter 83: Echoes of the Gods

Eric’s eyes scanned the room he had found himself in. The first thing his eyes saw was that at the end of the room, there were eight statues that looked like totems. He wondered if they were—

Suddenly, a headache assaulted him, and he was forced to place a hand on his head.

It felt like his mind was being broken, like something had entered his mind and was rewriting, creating things.

A moment later, he let out a sigh as he shifted his gaze to his hand.

’Why am I clutching my head?’ he asked himself. Coming to the conclusion that he didn’t need to worry about that, his eyes observed the room.

The first thing his eyes saw was that at the end of the room, there were seven statues that looked like totems. He wondered if they were supposed to represent the gods.

Each of them had a different outer appearance, most likely signaling which god it was supposed to represent.

The first had its hands stretched out, and a crop seemed to have started growing there. This was no doubt the god of Life.

The one next to it had its hands stretched to the side, a big ball over its head. It was most likely representing the god of the Sun.

One seemed to have the appearance of a fish—no doubt the god of the Ocean.

Next to it, one was on its knees, looking up—the god of the Sky.

The other had a spear in one hand and a shield in the other, it was clad in armor—the god of War.

The second-to-last had closed eyes with a smile on its face—the god of Dreams.

And the last one seemed to have a third eye on its forehead, probably the god of the Underworld.

"Seven gods, seven totems," Eric muttered under his breath, then a second later, he shifted his gaze.

’What is that thing? Looks like a smudge?’ he asked himself. The thing was hard to look at—it was like he wasn’t able to make out its form.

He couldn’t waste time thinking about it, so he shifted his gaze to what looked like a giant map of the whole continent.

On said map, there was a big light that seemed to illuminate the whole room. To that light, there were 23 smaller lights that seemed to be connected to the bigger one.

"This is where the connections take place," the Saint spoke as he took a step forward. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"So how does that connection work?" Olivia asked.

"Simple. You say a prayer and make a small cut on one of your fingers, then you let your blood fall on roughly where your cathedral is on the map. And that’s it," the Saint explained as he stopped in front of one of the seven totems, kneeled, and began to mutter something, most likely saying a prayer.

Olivia, deciding that she wanted to try how it worked first, she summoned a dagger and made a small cut on her index finger.

She then positioned it above the place where her cathedral was, and her blood fell on the map.

Curiously enough, once the blood fell, the map moved—it was like the map itself was made from some type of liquid.

A small light appeared above the place where Olivia’s cathedral was located, and it connected to the bigger light that was over the city.

The big light shined slightly, as did the three eyes of the totem that seemed to represent the god of the Underworld.

"I think that was it?" Olivia spoke as she moved, making a place for Aria.

Aria repeated Olivia’s movements, and another light connected to the one over the city, and the eyes of the totem with the crop shined.

"Was that it?" Aria asked, glancing at the Saint.

The Saint stayed motionless for a few moments, then sighed as he stood up.

"Yeah, that was it. Now the city has gained two other cathedrals."

Eric didn’t mention it, but the Saint looked exhausted. It seemed that making the connection was a tiring process for him, especially as Eric saw that the girls didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.

"So now this is supposed to make the city in a better state?" Eric asked, glancing at the Saint as he spoke.

"Yes. The more cathedrals of the gods are connected to our city, the more connected we are with the gods themselves. Now, especially as your actions have awakened them from their slumber, the support we will get should be nothing to scoff at," the Saint explained.

’I see. So the castle we are in right now represents the big light over the map, and the smaller ones are the connected cathedrals to it. The more lights are connected, the more the central one would shine, and the more support from the gods we will get.’

"So, what now?" Eric asked.

"The effect will be negligible at first, but the more time passes, the better our circumstances will become. In the meantime, you will go to that cathedral that has lost its master, and you will try to become its new master. Whether you succeed or fail, you will spend some time training. That is all," Gabriel explained.

"But shouldn’t we try something more? It feels weird to just train while we could be doing so much more," Aria asked.

The Saint smiled faintly before speaking. "Listen... you two girls are the youngest Grandmasters we have ever had. And you’ve evolved quite recently at that. It would be more beneficial to learn how to use your powers rather than going headfirst into danger again."

The Saint’s eyes darkened for a moment. "Believe me, the last thing we need is to lose another Grandmaster. This is something that we should avoid at all costs. So, you will have to learn to value yourself higher than you already do."

Though the three of them wanted to protest, as they felt they could do much more, at the same time, a prolonged rest where they only had to train didn’t sound too bad.

And part of them knew he was right. Now that their lives held higher value, they had to learn to take better care of themselves.

*****

After the talk with the Saint, the three of them decided to visit the cathedral of the Ocean to see if Eric would be chosen, as there was no point in prolonging what needed to be done,

"It will be weird if I become a Grandmaster so fast, wouldn’t it?" Eric muttered under his breath as he gazed at the cathedral.

"Weirder things have happened," Olivia answered.

"Though if you managed to become a Grandmaster so soon after becoming a Master, you would have surely broken some type of record," Aria added.

He wasn’t sure how to feel about the idea of becoming a Grandmaster, as he had yet to grasp what being a Master even meant.

Not only that, but it would feel kind of like he was cheating. Olivia and Aria had to traverse so much distance and fight against the corruption for so long to evolve into Grandmasters, and he was going to try and skip the whole process?

He sighed as he stepped forward, entering the holy structure.

"Let’s see if I’m worthy, I guess."