100XMultiplier System: My Essence is Glitched as an Ultimate Cheat-Chapter 75: Ch : Something is Wrong - Part 1

"Be on your guard. We will enter the Holy City soon."

Cane reminded Ai as he allowed her to take the lead. If anything were to happen, having Ai in front would assure his life. And since Ai was already above level 100, she would likely survive any attack sent her way.

They crossed a second barrier as they entered the city.

[Your system’s functions will be restricted...overwriting the protective barrier....restoring system, function]

[Due to your role as operative, you will receive the system’s protection and a part of your system will be restored.]

Cane looked at the system with a relieved look on his face. He was worried about what he should do now, but this relieved him more than he would care to admit. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

But it also confirmed his suspicions that there was something going on with this city that he was not aware of.

"Cane, this place...feels different. It feels wrong. And the people here also look...weird."

Ai picked up on the feeling as she looked around. Her sharp eyes quickly noticed how people were behaving and she frowned as she watched them move around like zombies.

Cane sighed as he followed her. He knew what she was worried about—being attacked while being out in the open. He was worried about the same thing as well.

"Be careful. Something must be wrong with this city. Let’s go talk to someone."

Cane told Ai as he followed her lead and went to the shopkeeper in front of them. The man looked dazed and out of it. His eyes cleared up just enough to recognize the pair in front of him and the shopkeeper frowned.

"Who are you both? Would you like to buy something? The grace of the god extends to every corner of this place. May you be able to find what you need."

The man’s voice sounded airy, almost as if he was not present in the moment and spoke whatever his mouth allowed him to speak.

"Excuse me, but we seek an audience with the servant of god. Do you know where he is?"

Cane asked and the shopkeeper just blinked in an unnerving way before giving them a smile in return.

"Ah yes-! The servant of god. You are here for his guidance? Then go upstairs. The almighty must be waiting for you to arrive."

The man spoke in a clear voice but something still felt wrong. Cane and Ai looked in the direction where the man pointed, only to see no stairs.

"Go upstairs? But there are no stairs—"

"You must not question the faith of god and his servant. Those who enter the holy city are bound by God’s will and his servant is the hand by which the god executes this will. You need to be more careful out here."

The shopkeeper seemed to regain his composure at the last second as he told Cane this, but then he went under once more.

His eyes glazed over and Cane had a feeling it would be better for him not to ask any more questions.

"Ai, let’s go and ask someone else as well."

Cane told her and the female nodded as she followed after him. They went to a second shop, only to be told the same and then a third one as well.

No matter which shop they went to, the answer toward what they needed to do did not change. What they needed to do here was clear—they needed to climb up the stairs to reach the holy guidance.

"But where are the stairs? We went to all the places these people told us to go. But none of them had stairs."

Ai told Cane. She sounded frustrated with how things were going and for a good reason. She was getting tired and cranky moving around all alone.

Cane gave her a sigh as he tried to control his own emotions. He wanted to start yelling as well. He did not even have his chat here with him to guide him....

’Why the hell am I searching so hard when I have the system? Tsk, I could have just searched for this using my operator role.’

Cane suddenly recalled that he had this feature available to him and he opened the system to check where he needed to go.

He was almost convinced that the ’stairs’ he needed to climb were a metaphorical symbol that did not exist in real life.

But the system told him something different. The place he needed to climb was painfully obvious to the point that he had overlooked it until now.

’Sometimes, simplicity is the answer. There was no need for me to make things this complicated.’

Cane sighed as he looked at the system and then turned toward Ai.

"Well, it seems we ran around the whole place for nothing. We just need to climb up the stairs of the holy temple to seek an audience with the servant of god."

Cane told Ai, causing her to blink blankly at him.

"Are you...sure?"

Ai asked in a tense voice as she tried her best not to yell. Cane just nodded at her, looking as sour as she felt.

"Most likely. These town people must have been trying to tell us that as well, but they are so out of it that they kept pointing us in a different direction."

Cane and Ai let out a groan of irritation before they headed toward the holy temple where the servant of god resided.

The air in the temple felt even tenser compared to the town. Now, even Cane was beginning to feel a little dizzy as he took a step up the stairs. His vision was beginning to swim in and out of focus.

[You have been affected by the status ’intoxicated’. Your action speed has fallen down and hallucinations will start to appear. Please, detoxify immediately in order to resume normal function of your body.]

The system warned Cane but it was already too late. He could no longer see the system.