The Evil God Beyond the Smartphone - Chapter 12

– You have reached level 5.

– <Eye of the Observer (Lv.4)> grows.

– <Eye of the Observer (Lv.5)>. You can now observe the continent with a clearer gaze than before.

A few days have passed since I hunted the event monster.

In in-game time, it has probably been about ten days.

I have been hunting steadily and have finally achieved level 5.

Level 5.

Despite being a low number for a game level, it took me longer to achieve than I thought.

Inevitably, the higher the level, the higher the karma requirement, and the part of the game where the inhabitants are not regenerated into villages that have been reduced to karma also acted as a problem.

Unlike other games, there is no place that can be clearly called a hunting ground.

It was always necessary to explore new areas for hunting.

To this extent, it made me wonder which part of the game was an idle game.

— “Thank you very much.”

Level 5, however, showed a more unprecedented change than before.

First, the <Eye of the Observer> evolved to output the general content of the dialogue.

Now I can almost hear what Euthenia is talking about.

What a surprise that the full five-character conversation content is output.

Considering that crude two-character speech bubbles were being output, it was what I would call a long-legged development.

“It’s more polite than I thought.”

Usually bread. Thank you. Considering the way she used to go by this way, the personality that Euthenia now shows was completely the opposite.

Apparently, Euthenia was a polite character.

How could you misinterpret such a polite character as having no sagacity?

It was part where I realised how poorly the <Eye of the Observer> was performing at low level.

That didn’t mean that the bread money that went into Euthenia was a small amount, though.

I left Euthenia alone as she thanked me for the bread, and scrolled down the message tab to see the following message.

– WARNING: Karma that is excessively biased in one direction is likely to cause a ‘Causality Correction’.

– <Karma Balance> is tilted.

– <Karma Balance: Offerings> has been activated.

– It will now be possible to gain karma and items through offerings to you.

Next, changes have been made to the <Karma Balance> skill.

It was the same as before to warn about <Causality Correction>, but this time another content was added.

The <Karma Balance: Offerings> skill has been created.

An offering is a ritual in which offerings are made to a transcendent being, such as an deity.

It seemed that from the moment this skill was activated, I was able to receive offerings from other characters.

Of course, there is only one being, Euthenia, who can only offer offerings to me now.

“An offering. I can only see one magic book when it comes to the things I can get.”

All that came to mind as now was the “magic book: barrier” that I gave to Euthenia.

Even that was something that could only be retrieved with minimal communication with Euthenia.

I decided to overlook the part about the offerings for the moment.

I moved the scroll to look for the next message.

When I scrolled down, I was now greeted by a skill with a name I had never seen before.

– You have acquired <Apostle Selection (Lv.1)>.

– You can spend 200 karma to select an apostle.

– Each time you select an apostle, the karma requirement for <Apostle Selection> is doubled.

The name of the newly acquired skill is “Apostle Selection”.

From the name alone, it appeared to be a skill for character interaction.

When I checked the contents of the <Apostle Selection> skill, it seemed to be able to designate a single character to be your apostle.

Apostle.

Usually the term refers to people who act on behalf of the will of God.

So, when I make Euthenia an apostle, will I be able to fully communicate my will to her?

I was inclined to test my skills on Euthenia right now.

“I’m still a bit concerned about the fact that it drains 200 karma, though.”

Karma is needed to raise a player’s level, but accumulated karma remains unexhausted.

It did not appear that using the accumulated karma would make the level lower again.

There was no separate place to spend it anyway, plus it was goods that had no point in saving.

After worrying about it for a while, I eventually decided to try using the <Apostle Selection> skill.

Gulp.

When I clicked on the <Apostle Selection> skill icon, a target arrow appeared on which I could specify the target.

I placed the target over Euthenia’s head and used the skill.

– Do you want to select [Euthenia High Lost] as an apostle?

– You need 200 karma to select an apostle.

– Yes/No

When I used the skill, the message “Do you want to register Euthenia as an Apostle?” came to mind.

My answer to that was naturally ‘yes’.

When I clicked ‘Yes’ in the newly surfaced information window, the screen flashed for a while, and then Euthenia looked up at the sky.

A big question mark remained floating above her head as she looked at the sky.

– [Euthenia High Lost] is selected as an apostle.

– 200 karma is consumed to create a new divine weapon for Apostle.

– [Wonders :Grimoire] was attributed to [Euthenia High Lost].

– [First Apostle:Euthenia High Lost] has become your apostle.

– Your magic power is shared with the apostles chosen by the effect of <Apostle Selection>.

– You will be able to send a separate message to the selected apostles by the result of <Apostle Selection>.

When the skill is used, several messages are output successively.

The content of the messages output was evenly unfamiliar.

Karma was used. A new divine weapon was created.

Most of the messages were of such content.

After a long list of messages that were new to me, the last one was an explanation of the additional benefits of the <Apostle Selection> skill.

It appeared that he could share his magical power with characters who had become apostles and send messages to the selected apostles.

As if to prove his point, a small chat icon floated above Euthenia’s head.

“If I press this, can I have a conversation?”

This icon floats only on Euthenia’s head as an apostle.

The fact that it is only by using this button that it is possible to interact with the apostle is not difficult.

How is it possible to have a dialogue with an AI character that was only possible to simply observe?

The more I thought about it, the stranger it became.

I clicked on the chat icon above her head to talk to Euthenia.

Click-.!

And as I clicked on the chat icon, a single warning message floated across my screen.

– You need a new weapon to use as a medium.

It said that I was missing a divine object to use as a medium.

Scrolling up, I see a message that a new divine artifact has been created.

Furthermore, a message that the divine artifact was attributed to it was displayed together with the message below it.

When I saw the message that the divine artifact was needed, I couldn’t help but jaw and wince.

“Don’t tell me it’s in my inventory?”

It is not that I have no idea.

If an item is newly acquired using a skill, the item will probably be found in your inventory.

I opened my inventory to check, just to be sure.

The item I had acquired was still there in my inventory.

The name of the item in the inventory is [Wonder: Grimoire].

It was in the form of an item that gave the wearer the characteristic <shadow hands>.

“It’s a name unnatural, really.”

Any way you look at it, this game was a very unfriendly game.

If you were to rank unfriendly games, it would be in the top ten for sure.

I dragged [Wonder: Grimoire] in front of Euthenia with smile on my face .

Thud-!.

The newly created item fell at Euthenia’s feet.

* * * * * *

A dimly lit cave where the warmth of human life still lingers.

There, Euthenia was biting into a baguette with a sigh.

Her worried eyes looked at the magic book.

Ever since the fall of Agent Cloud, Euthenia has been troubled by one thing.

So far, she has endured well thanks to the favour of the Great One who loves her.

However, she could not live with the help of a transcendent being forever.

“Hmm… this magic will not help much.”

Sighing, Euthenia again looked at the magic book in her hand.

A magic book containing the magic of the barrier.

It was given to her by a great one who had watched over her.

She did not even know a name. I had not even seen their faces.

Still, the fact that he wanted her to acquire this magic was not difficult.

And the action actually helped her.

The day Cloud’s agents visited her.

When he pointed his sword at her for no reason, it was the barrier magic that protected her.

If she had not been able to protect herself with barrier magic, she would surely have lost her life from his attack.

“How can I be of help to you?”

Euthenia’s deep, contemplative gaze gazed at the sky outside the cave.

She had lost her family and her friends and neighbours.

Now she had only one thing left with her.

If even the last remaining one was to disappear, she wasn’t sure she could live any longer.

Having lost everything, the presence of the Great One watching over her was exceptional for Euthenia.

Even if his true identity was the devil, she no longer had any means left to escape his shadow.

Of course, she didn’t think that the being who had taken care of her until now was the devil.

– “Euthenia High Lost.”

– “Accept your fate.”

Was it in response to such a wish of hers?

Euthenia, who was looking up at the sky, heard a single voice in her ear.

Euthenia’s heart began to tremble intensely at the voice that she heard.

I want to see your face. I want to hear your voice.

Hundreds of times I have had this selfish thought.

But I still couldn’t hear it, and now I can hear the voice I couldn’t hear.

This moment was very emotional for Euthenia.

“Ah…I knew you were watching over me.”

The light enveloped Euthenia’s body, which was immersed in emotion.

A pure white radiant light that warmly enveloped her entire body.

Wrapped in the radiant light, Euthenia could feel as if she was being held in someone’s bosom.

In the glittering radiance, she heard the voice again.

– “Be my apostle.”

– “Awe. Worship. Make offerings.”

– “Sing the hymn of life.”

Apostle.

The moment she heard the glorious title, Euthenia could feel the magical power overflowing through her whole body.

A new connection with a great being was born.

And through this connection, unlimited magical power flowed into Euthenia’s body.

The first apostle, Euthenia High Lost.

That was the new name given to her.