NOVEL WEB Chapter 158: Holy Books
The long list of items in the Cosmic Shop opened in front of Leon's eyes.
He didn't even bother to scroll down and look through the items, as the search bar option at the corner of the screen was definitely a time-saver.
Without another word, he filled the search bar with "Holy Affinity," and with another thought, the results of the search appeared in front of him.
He looked at the first item—Holy Water from the Church of Life.
He ignored it and started scrolling down. The more he scrolled, the more a vein bulged on his head.
He was starting to feel like he was doomscrolling a shopping app at 2 a.m.
No matter how far he went, the only thing he could find was Holy Water, which filled 70% of the entire search result. Even their prices weren't cheap.
Just for a 10 ml vial, it cost nearly 20,000 Causality, and the effects it had:
Effects: It can cleanse your soul and make you closer to God.
His finger ached from flicking through the endless river of overpriced holy water, each swipe feeling like another slap to his wallet, and he realized how little he had.
He didn't even know what that meant.
Other than the Holy Water, there were accessories exclusive to different churches. The Church of Life had its own set of clothing, accessories, and various everyday-use items. And with the title instead of a regular wooden comb made of some simple wood...
It was labeled as A Holy Comb.
Effects: Make you closer to God.
This was just nonsense to Leon. These churches were acting like money-hungry scam companies.
A Holy Comb!
That was enough to give him some ideas about church dynamics.
And even funnier was the fact that the comb was already sold out.
The only useful items on the list were those that had effects like increased damage against undead monsters.
The Holy Sword—seeing the name, he first imagined it was some legendary item, but it turned out to be just a sword purified by holy energy.
And like always, it was also out of stock—not that he needed it anyway.
It was only a Rare-rank sword with an exorbitant price reaching close to 300,000 Causality.
Other than that, it had no special effects.
Tired of seeing these items—Holy Bottle, Holy Fork, Holy Cup, Holy Pants, Holy Shirt, Holy Robe—clearly money-grabbing scams, and the few that did have real power being priced mostly over 300,000 Causality...
He found one pendant that cost nearly 500k Causality. Its rank was Epic, and its effects included healing not just minor injuries but deep wounds too—though not life-threatening ones. It also had effects of purification and shielding from weak attacks.
This was the first time Leon had found something related to Holy Affinity that was worth the Causality. He would even go as far as to say it was a good item, even for the price.
Yet suddenly, his eyes noticed something in the corner of the page. In small text that was barely visible, something was written.
He read it.
He even felt a bit of disgust along with blatant disbelief—but that feeling faded quickly. After seeing the previous items, this should have been expected.
[Note: A monthly subscription of 100k Causality would be needed to keep the artifact working.]
A monthly fee of 100k Causality just to use the treasure? Why not just rob us blind?
Next, they'd probably start charging him a convenience fee for breathing.
This item wasn't out of stock—but only seven were left.
Whoever is in charge of marketing for these churches is killing it for sure.
He was sure they only released their items in small batches, so they'd either show as out of stock most of the time or be available in very limited numbers.
Which created a false illusion for people that these items were being sold out so fast, causing them to ask questions like, "There must be something special that makes it so popular despite the high prices. I have to buy it before I miss out."
Typical.
And that hidden text in the corner—that was just plain robbery to him.
With a sigh, he moved on and continued looking for anything that could help him. Yet he found nothing. He had seen different types of books from various churches, and even their prices were only 1,000 Causality.
Still, they couldn't match the price of the Lin Fang Biography, but at least they weren't as exploitative as the other items.
Which he understood quite well—as the more followers they had, the more powerful they would become.
He bought all the books they had. There were a total of thirteen different kinds.
They were related to only three churches prominently visible in the vendor's name through his search results: The Church of Light, The Church of Life, and the last one—a name he hadn't heard before:
The Church of Almighty.
Which seemed to be equally as popular as the other two churches.
But the name gave him a much grander feeling than the other two churches. It was a powerful word—Almighty.
Teleporting next to the chair—fwoosh—with just a thought, Leon appeared with the books he had just bought using 13,000.
This better be worth it—it almost cost half the price of Seraphine's spatial pouch.
Also, one more thing he had noticed, which might be just his illusion.
Was it just him, or did the interface get brighter every time he was about to lose money?
His total balance of 656,000 Causality was now reduced to 643,000.
Leon looked at the comfortable seat on the chair and picked up the books from the Church of Almighty, which seemed to be directly connected to Holy Affinity.
The chair creaked as he settled in, the cushion softer than expected.
The scent of crisp parchment and ink was present.
Only after opening the cover page—with its white and golden design showing the back of a man facing the sky—did he begin reading the book.
He wouldn't lie—the cover alone gave him the feeling he was about to read something grand and holy.
If only every textbook in his past life looked this majestic, I might've actually read one.
The pages crackled as he turned the cover, a faint puff of mystery rising.
But it was only when he read the title of the first chapter that he was genuinely shocked by what was written there in bold letters:
You Will Burn in Hell