Chapter 144. System: Let Me Warn You About Something
After deciding which species he plans to buy, Cedric checked the situation in the Crystal Cube world.
The chaos caused when people rushed to reach Level 4 has subsided, as every top force already has its own method to advance to Level 4.
Even so, the number of Level 4 blessed is still only slightly more than ten, due to the difficulty of breaking through from Peak Level 3 to Level 4. Not only that, a recently advanced Level 4 from the demon cult has also been killed by the Temple’s high priest, who ganged up with two other Level 4 from the Temple to beat the demon cult’s leader and the newly advanced Level 4 blessed.
Cedric initially planned to help Lacius eradicate the demon cult once and for all. After all, he only needed the demon cult to cause chaos and obtain more GP as soon as possible to purchase more mana for his world. But after watching the demon cult, Cedric has now changed his mind.
From what he saw, thanks to a common enemy, the Temple’s higher-ups didn't descend into degeneracy too quickly. There are some corrupt priests here and there, but most priests are still strongly opposed to evil, especially those who joined the Temple to take revenge on the demon cults.
That’s why he now plans to leave the demon cult be, as long as they remain weaker than the Temple and don’t cause any destruction on a catastrophic scale.
This is also why Cedric turns a blind eye to Lacius’s plan to let the chaos brew longer. The demon cult just needs to be strong enough to pressure the Temple, but mustn’t become strong enough to create demons on a massive scale.
As for the NE generated during the chaos. Cedric feels his current world can still handle one demon king’s birth without much problem.
Based on past experience, even if a demon king is born, it’ll probably only reach Level 5 or early Level 6. Something Lacius, Catherina, and Elisa can handle.
After ensuring the humans won’t cause any chaos for the next few years, Cedric focused on another person whose grand plan is already in progress.
With the chaos subsided, Catherina’s internet plan has begun.
She has begun sending people to spread the internet plants and has connected every single one of them to the data storage she built.
Lacius has also fulfilled his part of the deal and made the Temple hold back any forces that try to block Catherina’s plan.
Due to the world’s terrain, uneven technological level, and low-grade transport system, even though the Crystal Cube world is much smaller than Earth, it’ll probably take much longer to spread the internet in the Crystal Cube world than on Earth.
After checking Catheriana’s progress, Cedric also took a look at Elisa’s side.
Under her command, the elves invited some talented dwarves to start advancing steamship technology.
Right now, the ships have already evolved several times and can consistently beat the normal sail-based ships in terms of speed. They’ve already used the ship to explore the surrounding sea while continuing to research better ships.
“If this goes on, it won’t be long before the elves find the mermaids.” Cedric rubbed his chin as he looked at the area the elves had explored.
Right now, they have already thoroughly explored half the distance between the continent and the nearest mermaid’s territory.
Cedric looked at the mermaids’ meagre population and decided to help increase it before their debut.
Of course, he didn’t just focus on the mermaids. Cedric also planned to increase the populations of krakens and V.2 dragons.
After some consideration, he decided to give each of them a species fertility blessing every 50 years to boost their populations and expand their territory. Cedric also decided to spend 1 species fertility every century in the sea area near the krakens’ and the mermaids’ living areas to ensure they had enough food.
As for the dragons, they have already come into contact with the continent, so they should be able to handle their food resource problem by importing food from the continent.
In total, he’ll spend 700 GP each century. Thankfully, his increased annual GP and the increased world stability from levelling up let him keep up with such a massive expenditure.
With peace of mind and nothing going wrong, Cedric decided to take a break. This time, he plans for a real holiday.
First, Cedric bought some divine item for self-protection.
[Level 5 Consumable Divine Item, Automatic Barrier (Technological).
Cost: 100 GP
Description: an automatic barrier that allows the user to defend against any Level 5 attack for 10 seconds per use. 3 uses remaining.]
[Level 4 Consumable Divine Item, random teleportation stone.
Cost: 20 GP
Description: randomly teleport within a 10 km range.] (lv4 20 lv 5 40 lv 6 80 lv 7 200. Increase range 10x per level)
[Level 4 Consumable Divine Item, laser wand.
Cost: 20 GP
Description: shot a laser beam attack in the direction pointed, with a certain auto aim function that can be controlled through the user’s will. The laser’s intensity can be controlled through will, with the highest intensity rivalling a full-powered Level 4 attack. The item will be bound to the first person to press the bottom part. Turn into a normal biodegradable material once the energy inside runs out.]
After purchasing some self-protection items, Cedric opened the System’s visa section and sorted the prices from the cheapest.
[Visa (Press for further details):
-Random Earth Number 10.000-99.999 (7 day): 100 GP
-Mortal Quasi Realm (7 day): 1.000 GP
-Backward Scientific Planet (7 day): 1.000 GP
-Demi plane (7 day): 1.500 GP
-Beast meteorite (7 day): 1.500 GP
…]
“Hmm? Where should I go for my holiday?” Cedric scrolled the lists until he got torn between a few choices.
“Honestly, I am interested in the Mortal Quasi Realm, Backward Scientific Planet, and Demi Plane, but they cost too much.”
From the description Cedric read, the Mortal Quasi Realm seems to be a world filled with martial artists. The Demi Plane is a world of magic and sorcery, which is pretty similar to the Crystal Cube world. As for the Backward Scientific Planet, it should be a world with slightly more advanced technology than Earth.
“Well, beggars can’t be choosers.” At last, Cedric decided to take a holiday on Earth. Mainly because it costs at least 10 times less than other visas.
“When I become richer, I’ll definitely visit the other world. For now, let's destress and forget about fairies and whatnot.” Cedric vowed before buying a Visa to Earth for his holiday.
[You’ve bought a 7-day visa to Earth, number 59.882, for 100 GP. You may tear the paper to begin the sealing and teleportation procedure.]
Cedric immediately tore the paper that appeared in his hand.
After a feeling of suppression, several messages, and seeing the space around him distort, Cedric finally came to his senses and saw the welcoming sight of modern Earth.
Once he arrived, Cedric immediately checked into a hotel before travelling at random. He only checked the Crystal Cube world’s situation at night to ensure there was nothing wrong with it.
Time quickly passes during his holiday, and his seven-day stay on Earth flies by.
[Ding! Your 7-day visa has been used up. Do you wish to extend your stay on Earth number 59.882 for 200 GP/7 days, purchase a new visa to a random Earth number 10.000-99.999 for 100 GP, or return to your world?]
Cedric counted his GP income and decided to reward himself a little more.
“Thankfully, a day on this Earth equals a year on the other worlds, so during these 7 days’ stay, my GP has increased by 217. This time, I’ll rest for a whole year on Earth. Anyway, my income can keep up with this much expenditure.”
After he said so, Cedric purchased another visa for a random Earth number 10.000-99.999.
[Checking for violation of the terms of service.]
[No violation detected.]
[You’ve bought a 7-day visa to Earth number 84.857 for 100 GP. Automatically activating visa.]
Once again, Cedric’s surroundings blur, and he finds himself on another Earth.
“Hmmm?” The moment his surroundings changed, Cedric found himself standing in the middle of an alley. But unlike before, something was a bit off.
Cedric looked down and saw the items in his hands.
Except for money and documents, as usual, there was a massive brick phone instead of the usual smartphones.
Cedric pocketed the document and money before looking at the brick phone with curiosity. “System, why did you give me a brick phone instead of the usual smartphone?”
[This Earth is currently in the year 1987. Smartphones haven't been commercialised yet.]
“Damn, I can also travel to Earth in the 20th century? I thought I’d only be sent to 21th century Earth.”
[The System’s Earths constantly cycle between the years 1900 and 2100, resetting to 1900 every time they reach 2101. But after a certain incident, the visa only allows others to enter Earths in the 1950 to 2100, with most Earths that can be visited through the visa being in the 1980s to 2040s.]
“What? The Earths are constantly resetting?! Then what about the Earth I came from?!” Cedric asked the System in a panic.
[Don’t worry. The Earth you came from is still far from their reset. Thanks to the 1 day to 1.000 years time dilation, you still have almost 30 million years before that Earth is reset.]
[The System has high hopes for you. It’s estimated you’ll gather enough GP by then to buy the whole Earth No.38, where you came from, before the next reset. That’s why the System never explicitly mentioned it to you.]
The System’s words both calmed and shocked Cedric, “You actually also sell the Earth? The Earth as in the whole planet instead of just the visa?!”
[Yes. It's super expensive, but the system believes you can gather enough GP to buy it on time.]
Cedric nodded and left the alley.
Taking the sight of the city, Cedric asked several pedestrians for the location of the nearest good hotel before checking in.
Once he entered his hotel, Cedric asked the System about something that had piqued his curiosity, “I think you mentioned an accident. Why did you stop allowing others to enter Earth between 1900 and 1950? I honestly wanted to visit that time, especially to see the First and Second World Wars.”
“Or wait, can I actually change events on this Earth? Like stopping a war from happening or saving someone famous who’ll be killed?” Cedric became curious.
[No. Some specific events, people, and items are anchor points in Earth’s cycle. Changing them is incredibly difficult, and the System will interfere with any change to ensure those anchor points remain, and will penalise the gods who do so with massive fines. If an anchor point shifts greatly, the Earth will collapse before its reset time in 2101.]
“Why will the Earth collapse if those anchor points are changed? Also, can you tell me an example of those anchor points?”
[The first question involves the Earth’s secret and costs a massive GP, which you can’t pay. So, the System will only answer the second question.]
[Example of anchor points include but are not limited to: influential people like Albert Einstein, Maria Salomea Skłodowska Curie, Timothy John Berners-Lee, Michael Joseph Jackson, Pablo Picasso, several politicians, and other people who’ve left their mark in history and become widely known. There are also events like World War 1 and 2, worldwide epidemics, the creation of the World Wide Web, some films and books like The Lord of the Rings, A Space Odyssey, etc.]
[Except for those anchor points, every Earth have different details.]
Cedric nodded and asked, “Then, what’s the accident. You seem to be unwilling to talk about it?”
Cedric has sensed that the System is trying to brush aside the reason it no longer allows people to visit Earth between 1900 and 1950.
[...]
[To explain that accident, the System must mention a trend that once somehow became widely spread amongst the gods: studying Earth history and summoning famous people from Earth.]
Cedric nodded. He honestly wants to summon those famous scientists from Earth, too. But he’s been deciding against it due to the enormous fine he’ll need to pay for summoning a famous person from Earth.
[Among those famous people, the gods that joined the trend somehow began to list people they wanted to summon to their world and ranked them. Kinda like a tier list in a gacha game.]
Cedric feels a bit speechless but still nods in understanding.
[Among the top 10 people to summon, except for Michael Jackson and Albert Einstein, the remaining 8 are politicians.]
Cedric somehow has a feeling he might be in for some great surprise, and as expected, the System didn’t disappoint.
[Except for the wartime prime minister of Japan during the Second World War, all three leaders of the Axis powers during World War II are among the top 10, with one ranked number 1. This means there are many Axis leaders from multiple Earths summoned to another world.]
Cedric choked when he saw the System’s answer. But the System hadn’t even finished yet.
[Some of them reached Level 16 and above, becoming a god, an immortal emperor, or whatever it's called in their summoned world. ]
[So, please don’t be surprised if you meet a god-level Adolf Hitler, Emperor Hirohiko, Mussolini, Albert Einstein, or Michael Jackson.]
[They have even formed an alliance led by a super-strong Albert Einstein who owns a sci-fi-based world.]
This fact shook Cedric’s mind as badly as when he first became a god out of nowhere.
It’s unknown how he passed the past seven days, but by the time he came to his senses, Cedric’s seven-day stay had already ended, and he absentmindedly purchased a visa to a new Earth.