Lone Cultivator In Another World

It took the world weeks to fully recover from the horrors the comet brought. Incredible how much damage fifteen minutes of unconsciousness and lack of electricity could do.

The first few days, law had no power. Men were raping and pillaging in the open, making use of the chaos to sate their base d.e.s.i.r.es. In hopes it would all return to normal, they robbed stores and shops, hoarded expensive and rare goods.

One survival nut in Florida stole exotic birds and reptiles from a zoo, then turned himself in after he got bitten by a snake. It was one piece of news that helped bring a smile on people's faces.

Similar to the militants that stormed EIS, radical religious and terrorist groups launched attacks on the targets they would've never dared to hit otherwise. Racists and xenophobes let their suppressed beliefs surface as they turned on the people they considered lesser beings.

North Korea sent its troops to South Korea, creating an international incident and fanning the flames of hatred further. Fortunately, the spontaneous incursion had been so hasty and uncoordinated that it died down quickly. Most of the casualties were from the army and border patrol troops.

Other people were cruel not to others, but themselves. Before, during and soon after the comet, a series of ritualistic suicides were committed around the world. Most of them were of religious origin. There were also men and even families who ended their lives in fear of what was coming. Cases of mental breakdown skyrocketed, exceeding the average by several times.

Compared to the events after the comet, there were far fewer casualties caused directly by it. Most countries in the world restricted the use of airplanes and trains, urged everyone to stay at home and out of their cars. Inadvertently, that saved a lot of lives. Otherwise, various pilots and drivers would have lost consciousness behind the wheel which would have led to thousands, millions more deaths.

Electric malfunctioning wasn't much of a problem either. Any device that wasn't in use at the time could work just fine when it was turned on. So, when hospitals' electricity failed, the backup generators saved the day. During those short minutes, the food didn't go bad, the nuclear reactors didn't go off, and problems with online banking affected pretty much no one. The Internet was up again soon, same as cellular towers and gadgets.

In the end, humans were their own undoing, causing tons more damage to others' well-being and health, as well as the countries' economy and order.

In a small town in Switzerland, EIS students had the rest of the week off. Everyone was allowed to stay on the grounds with their parents and friends. Under the principal's timely and efficient leadership, the injured got to the overcrowded hospital in time. With a good three dozen doctors and nurses from the school helping out, the fallout was minimized.

It took the world weeks to go back to how it was. But Michael North only needed four days to wake up.

…

"Glory?"

"Host?"

"You're still here. That means I'm alive. Ah, I don't want to be."

Michael had thought he knew pain, but at the moment it hurt so much that he couldn't think, and then so much again that he achieved clarity.

He tried to move, disturbed by the pain, but realized he had no control over his body. He couldn't even open his eyes.

"Glory, what is going on? Why can't I do anything?" His thoughts were sluggish and strained, as if he was in a slow-motion scene in a movie. The discrepancy was only worse with his Mind Acceleration.

"Host is unconscious. Host's mental energy is strong enough to stay awake in such situations."

"Mental energy… What happened? I remember, I spent everything to fight LZD1, and then…" Michael concentrated on the fleeting memories of something he heard right before he closed his eyes, forever, as he had thought back then.

'Host, do you… enjoy cultivation?'

'Even when it's painful? Unrewarding? Senseless?'

'Hidden ability… Overcharge…'

Michael reacted quickly, "Glory! What was that about a hidden ability?"

"Hidden abilities are different from standard abilities that appear with every increase in host's cultivation. They do not become available by themselves. Instead, host needs to perform certain action or fulfill conditions first."

"I see. So, what was the one I received?"

"Overcharge. Hidden ability. Condition: host must display a heartfelt d.e.s.i.r.e to cultivate, believe it to be more important than anything else. Cost: none. Effect: strengthening of Splendid Glory's connection with the infofield. 100,000 glory points are received and stored. Host may obtain these points as rewards for Splendid Glory's tasks."

"Wow. A hundred thousand?" after a minute of quiet veneration, Michael exclaimed, "Heal me then! You only need twenty for that, right? With a hundred, we can do it right now!"

"Host has misunderstood. These points cannot be accessed without completing tasks first."

"Eh, like quests? I asked you this before, but are you a pay-to-win game, Glory? Why must everything be so difficult with you?" Michael w.h.i.n.ed. "I haven't woken up from the brink of death, my injuries aren't light, who knows how terrible LZD1 will be now! Can't you accommodate just a little?"

"Splendid Glory is a program…"

"…designed specifically for cultivation," they finished in unison.

"I know. Fine. There's no going around it. Give me a quest, then," Michael surrendered to his fate.

"Ding! Quest issued. Reward: 1000 glory points. Objective: host, there is one more function of Splendid Glory available to you that you haven't yet discovered. Please, find it."

One more? Michael began to go over all the functions he was aware of. Glory's greatest ability was absolute knowledge of everything that happened in the world, every fact from the past and present. However, that was not something he could get his hands on.

Apart from assisting him in cultivation, there were the shop and the glory points. Named after the program and not the virtue, it seemed.

Self-scan was crucial in determining his body's condition. By all means, Michael should have launched it long ago, but he was scared to find out what exactly happened to him in real life. For the moment, he found comfort in ignorance.

Michael checked out the settings menu. Everything was still the same, with only Notifications open for inspection. About, Settings, Customization and Upgrade were greyed out.

Unable to come up with ideas, young cultivator accessed the Notifications menu and scrolled down with his mind. It appeared he had been out for a few days because there were hundreds of messages rewarding him with glory points for teaching others. Among them were also rewards for entertaining others and bringing joy to them. That was the effect of North Gaming.

Finally, Michael scrolled down far enough. He read the self-scan's results again and smiled when he saw "1000 glory points earned for saving a life. Good, brave and selfless deed. 1/3."

That's right. Be it introducing someone to a mentor, helping them get an education, teaching, entertaining or filial piety – none of it came close to the preciousness of human life. Glory knew it too.

"How many points have I got right now?"

"Current glory points: 1541."

Michael prepared himself before asking the next question, "And how bad is LZD1?"

"LZD1 severity is 3450% and rising."

When Carina was choking, Michael put all of his points to work. However, he had to act before the changes really took effect. The otherworldly comet's mysterious power was such that the disease flared up in moments, but it took time for Glory to alleviate the symptoms. So, in the few days he was unconscious, the disease was suppressed and then began to snowball once again.

"Why don't you use them all to weaken LZD1's effects?"

"Choice confirmed."

In a few minutes, the unbearable pain subsided little by little. But the change drew Michael's attention and made him remember the world of hurt he was in.

In order to distract himself, he started to think of other possible features Glory could have. With quests fresh on his mind, he listed elements of game interface that would've been useful to him.

'Map! Because you can receive knowledge from the infofield, so you can keep track of people and objects in real time.'

'Inventory! Though I don't know where you'd put it…'

'Quests? Nah, they appeared only because of a hidden ability.'

'Help? As if you'd actually tell me anything useful.'

"Oh! Oh, man. No way, right? If that function was there all this time, and I didn't think of it, I'm gonna kick myself so hard. All right, Glory! Status!"

"Ding!.."

"Damn it!"

.