BXBX NOVEL Chapter 58: Greed, Part I
Chapter 58: Greed, Part I
Translator: HunterW Editor: RED
I left the alleyway and headed for the motel nearby. My body was covered in blood, but the owner of the motel just warned me not to get it everywhere, as it was normal for devas to be covered in blood from monster hunts. I took a shower and opened up my luggage carrier that I had from four years ago. I took out a change of clothes, changed and sat down on the bed.
“They may be pretty strong, but Seoul is under the control of the Sunbin Guild. I highly doubt that they’ll try to make a huge mess of things.” That was the reason why I had never heard about gangster guilds in Seoul. Back then, the Sunbin Guild had carefully maintained Seoul.
“I need to get stronger. I just need to get up to level 200. By then, I should have 2,800 stat points to play with, and have three more skill points to use.” My priority was to get stronger. I could find out who wanted to kidnap me later.
“If I can get strong enough, I can just go in there and ask for myself. I should hurry. I should start off at Anton’s Store and buy the things I need, like I initially planned. I should also buy enough bread and drinks to last me all the way to level 300.”
The Seorak Mountain dungeon was abandoned because of the griffon swarms and the twin-horned griffon boss, but at my ability, if I could avoid the griffon boss, then I could easily avoid the griffon swarm. There weren’t going to be other devas there, which would allow me to monopolize the dungeon monsters. If I can just get that item from the auction house, it’ll be the icing on the cake. It might take another two or three years for it to appear, but I feel like there should be one out by now. The Seorak Mountain dungeon was going to be the ideal hunting ground for me to properly power level.
I got up from my bed and went outside. I threw my ripped and bloody clothes into the trash can.
---------------------------------------------------------------
I soon arrived in the vicinity of Store 72. I sprinted all the way from the motel, as the Store was pretty close by. It felt good seeing the Store again for the first time in four years.
“There are a lot of people here.” The busiest places around the world were now Store vicinities. Most devas set their respawn points at Stores, so there were constantly devas respawning at the first floor of every Store. There were also a lot of devas that came to the auction house to see if any cheap items were posted for sale. There were also crowds of devas around the equipment shops, smithies, skill shops, and quest boards.
I wove around the massive crowd of devas and mortals and entered the Store. I walked over to the Bonfire of Life, as I hadn’t set my respawn point yet. There were quite a few others that did the same. If you weren’t part of a guild or party group, this was the best and safest method. If you died without setting a respawn point, you were going to respawn in the exact same spot you died in three hours earlier. Most likely, that spot was going to be dangerous. Because of that, most devas were taught to use a Store’s Bonfire first thing.
I stood in front of the Bonfire and placed my hand over the hot, dancing flames.
[Would you like to set your respawn point to Stores?
If you die, you will respawn in the nearest Store after three hours.
Yes/No]
I selected Yes.
[You have set your respawn point to Stores. You will now respawn at the nearest Store upon death. If you wish to set your respawn point elsewhere, use a Respawn Gem.]
In the past, I was never around much danger, soI had put off setting my respawn point to much later, but right now, I didn’t know what was going to happen. Things could get much worse than today.
“I knew I should have done this first.” I had once made the mistake of not setting my point, and I ended up stuck deep in a monster’s territory for a year, dying and respawning over and over until I was saved by a passerby. I had to use the Sea of Reset once, but at least I was saved. It was a good thing that I didn’t have to go crazy being stuck in that hellish cycle.
The Otadolon stage had turned Earth into a game-like world, but this was nothing like any game we knew about. There was no tutorial or any NPC that offered help or answered any question. It became closer to reality than reality itself. Everyone was out for themselves.
---------------------------------------------------------------
I walked away from the Bonfire and browsed through the shops on the first, second, and third floors.
“Where should I start? I didn’t use my equipment much so I probably don’t have to repair them yet. Let’s start with the skill shop! Open skill menu!”
[Skill Menu
Unassigned points: 1
Passive skills: 1
Unrivaled Skill (First Unrivaled)
Active skills: none]
I had only earned one skill point in four years. Skills were important in fights; they were that powerful. It wasn’t to say that my current skill was useless, but it really was a waste to not have more skills.
“What should I learn?” Most skills had a max level of 3, so I had to choose carefully so that I could properly gain experience for the skill, and max it out as soon as possible.
“Should I learn a weapon mastery skill?” If I was going to go with a melee class, then it was basic to learn a mastery skill. It would be a skill that I would have to constantly rely on, making it very important.
“But I don’t have a spear yet and I don’t want to keep using a greatsword. Should I buy a spear first? Let’s check out what’s there first.” I did need to buy the proper weapon before learning the right weapon mastery skill, but most spears usually started at Rank 5 or 6 and weren’t cheap. They usually sold at around 1 million golden rings each. I didn’t have the funds for that.
I thought that it was probably better to keep using my greatsword to kill some more monsters and save up some more.
---------------------------------------------------------------
I headed towards the skill shop on the third floor. The shop was full of devas looking to buy skills. Most devas, besides those that learned the Unrivaled skill as I had, had more skill points to use. They still had the ten points they started with. As a result, there were always plenty of devas looking to spend their skill points.
The skill shop was the largest shop of Store 72, big enough to fit about 500-700 people at once with still enough room to spare. When I entered the shop, the counters were completely crowded by other devas, making it difficult for me to approach a counter. It didn’t matter, however; as long as I could enter the shop, I could access the shop’s wares. I stared at Sleng, the shop’s employee.
Five seconds later, the skill shop menu appeared before me.
[Physical tree, Magic tree, General tree, Random Skill (1)]
I noticed that this time, the Random Skill had a (1) icon next to it.
I obviously wasn’t able to come by the skill shop again during this second life, but in the past, the skill shop was my second most visited shop in the Store, after the auction house. I think I came here at least a thousand times? As such, I had seen the skill shop menu appear a thousand times before.
However, up until now, I had only seen the menu like this: [Physical tree, Magic tree, General tree, Random Skill (not applicable)]. The Random Skill section was always not applicable to me. It had never changed for me, until now.
This time, there was a (1) next to the Random Skill section.
Random Skills were extremely rare and difficult to learn. They were so rare, in fact, that anyone with a Random Skill was basically like the Chosen One of the Otadolon stage. In fact, if you looked at everyone who had a Random Skill, you would see that they really were quite spectacular beings.
The most famous were the Liberator Arman Lagus, also known as the Demon Lord, and the Mercenary Lord, Madun Yatekin. They started with nothing, but had learned Random Skills.
Another Random Skill user was someone that was only known as the Bozkurt, the Turkish word for grey wolf. One of the Three Lions, this person was famous for being able to go toe to toe against deities despite not having the Unrivaled skill.
I had never learned a Random Skill before, not even during my past life. It was actually a little weird not seeing the (not applicable) icon on the menu. Random Skills weren’t something you could see by constantly checking the skill shop day after day, month after month. Many devas tried to, but not a single one of them ever found one.
Back then, even I nearly spent the whole day, every day, at the skill shop for two weeks. There once was a rumor that Random Skills could disappear after a while if you failed to check it, causing a huge ruckus in skill shops all around. Later, it was found that the rumor was a lie and the chaos quickly died down.
No one knew what the criteria were to be able to learn a Random Skill. But everyone knew that whoever had a Random Skill was strong. Yet, all those Random Skill users pretty much said the same thing: “I became strong because of a Random Skill” or “I got a Random Skill because I was strong.” Either way, there was no definitive answer.
Still, there was no doubt that there was a correlation between power and Random Skills. People even removed some of their skills just so that they could learn a Random Skill.
“Open Random Skills.” I quietly selected the Random Skill section.
[Lee Jiwon can learn a Random Skill.
If this Random Skill isn’t learned within 24 hours after being revealed, the Skill will disappear.
Time left to learn: 23 hours 58 minutes 22 seconds.]
[Selfish Prick(1/1), (passive)
This skill reflects the will of Shaman Ko, who was known for his greed for his stats points. Shaman Ko’s head became Intelligence, Shaman Kos chest became Vitality, Shaman Kos arms became Strength, Xia Manko’s legs became Agility, and Xia Manko’s stomach became Willpower. Xia Manko’s will that became the essence of stats remains starved of stats. Shaman Ko’s greed for stats remains unsatisfied. Xia Manko desires more STR, AGI, VIT, WIL, and INT. Can you satisfy Shaman Kos greed?
Under that, I saw that there were three effects of the skill.
[Option 1: A Normal Selfish Prick
Gain one Stat Point a day upon learning the skill
100% chance to obtain one Stat Point
Required Skill Points: 1
Required golden rings: 1
Option 2: A Cruel Selfish Prick
A roulette wheel will appear once a day upon learning this skill. The roulette will spin automatically, and user will obtain an amount of Stat Points, depending on the number the wheel lands on.
Chance to obtain 0 points: 60%
Chance to obtain 1 point: 30%
Chance to obtain 2 points: 10%
Required Skill Points: 1
Required golden rings: 1
Option 3: A Stupid Selfish Prick
A roulette wheel will appear once a day upon learning the skill. The roulette will spin automatically and user will obtain an amount of Stat Points, depending on the number the wheel lands on.
Chance to lose 1 point: 30%
Chance to obtain 0 points: 30%
Chance to obtain 1 point: 25%
Chance to obtain 2 points: 14%
Chance to obtain 3 points: 1%
Required Skill Points: 1
Required golden rings: 1
You may choose one of these three effects. If you do not choose an effect before the time limit, the Selfish Prick skill will disappear.]
That was a long description for a skill, but there was also a lot to it. I don’t think I’d ever seen a skill description like this before.
“I… can get a skill like this?” I asked myself in a shaky voice.
There were so few devas that ever learned a Random Skill, and I could never dream about ever being one of those spectacular few. (They had tried to hide the fact that they had Random Skills, but the Secret Hunter soon revealed them to everyone.)
I never doubted that my Unrivaled skill would be able to take me the top. But now that I could learn a Random Skill on top of that… I was just so emotional.
Normal Selfish Prick, Cruel Selfish Prick, and Stupid Selfish Prick. I read the message screen once more, putting aside the feeling to celebrate for later.
If I went with the percentage of the effects at first glance, I would probably go with the first effect. With that effect, I could get 100 Stat points in 100 days. If I went with the second effect, I could only get 50 points in 100 days. A primary school student could figure that out. I mean, sure I could get 2 points in a row for a few days, but how long would that last? I might also get 0 points in a row for a few days.
There’s nothing much to say about the third effect. There’s a 30% chance that I could lose a point. The three point gain chance is only 1%. It really is a stupid effect. Statistically, I would average only getting 26 points in 100 days with the third effect. That was barely a quarter of the first effect, and barely half of the second. A normal person with no mental defects would obviously choose the first effect.
But I have something else, don’t I? I had my Luck effect. It was extremely difficult to get all heads in ten coin tosses. The more tosses, the lower the chance of getting all heads. It was pretty darn close to impossible.
But shouldn’t it be possible for me? I looked at the specials in my Stats Menu.