"User has leveled up. Awarding 5 Stat Points and 1 Skill Point to the user. Degrading all status debuffs by one level." An announcement rang in Darren's head as he killed his last slime, immediately feeling the warm effects of rejuvenation resulting from level up.
Clenching and unclenching his fists repeatedly, Darren couldn't help but feel like jumping and dancing on the spot. The system was the real deal. It could heal him, it could empower him, it could give him weapons-- the system was real.
Biting his lip, he stashed the basic knife he was holding into the inventory and opened his status panel.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
◄[Status]►
LVL 3
EXP: 1%
HP: 495/495 (Fatigue)
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░
SP: 87/90
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░
Status Points: 5
BRU 15 [+]
DEX 10 [+]
VIT 15 [+]
SPR 10 [+]
TEN 25 [+]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
"Nice," Darren nodded to himself, before heading to the [Quests] tab to return to his world.
Upon returning, he wasn't even allowed to sit back on his bed before a notice panel appeared.
▬▬▬Notice▬▬▬
Congratulations for reaching Level 3! You have unlocked the [Shop] tab.
[Start Shop Tutorial]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
"Hm." Darren's eyebrows rose for a quick moment as he made a curious hum, before he roughly ran his fingers through his hair and sat down on the bed. Finally, he clicked on [Start Shop Tutorial].
▬▬▬Tutorial▬▬▬
[Introduction to Coins]
Coins will be the System's main currency to buy or exchange for things in the shop. Coins can buy nearly anything in the system. This includes Stat Points, Skill Points, Weapons, Armor, Food, and other various items.
Coins can also be traded for real life currency, but not the opposite.
Coins can be gained by reaping certain quest rewards, by killing certain monsters from the Otherworld, and by selling items and equipment through the System Shop. The system shop will decide the price of items, and whether an item is worth any coins or not.
[Visit Shop]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
". . . Is this for real . . ?" Darren looked at the panel in front of him incredulously. Coins could buy System points? Coins could be exchanged for real money? Did this mean he didn't exactly need to work if he had a stable influx of coins from the system? And he could grow stronger as long as he had enough coins to buy points?
▬▬▬Answer to Query▬▬▬
Indeed, the user is able to buy stat points and skill points using coins, but the prices of both will increase by 1, 000 every time the user buys it, starting from 5, 000 coins.
For reference, the average quest rewards currently available to the user may net the user 100 coins, and the average monster of the user's current level may drop an average of 5 coins.
As for coins to real life money conversion, one coin is equal to one Marc.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
". . . Oh." Darren couldn't help but exclaim in slight disappointment. "Oh, well, it's fine." Just the fact that coins existed and it had various uses were already wondrous, so he didn't feel to bothered by it. Instead, he switched gears and began thinking of which stat to invest points in.
"Let's see . . . Dexterity is technique and weapon related and Spirituality is . . . What's Spirituality again?"
▬▬▬Answer to Query▬▬▬
Spirituality corresponds to the user's abilities to manipulate ethereal energy.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
"What does 'ethereal energy' mean?"
▬▬▬Notice▬▬▬
Details regarding ethereal energy cannot be disclosed until SPR reaches 100 points.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Darren looked at the number '100' with disdain and disappointment, before letting out a sigh, "I guess Dexterity it is then." He didn't want to focus on something that didn't impact his growth greatly at the moment. Maybe he could, when he reaches strengths that he could be satisfied with, but he could tell that time would be a ways from now.
As such, he invested all of his new stat points to DEX, wanting to know what kind of skills he could get from the DEX category.
▬▬▬Skills Unlocked▬▬▬
[Active Skills]
►Slash
►Shoot
►Afterimage
[Passive Skills]
►Precision
►Mastery
►Fatality
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
"Hm." Darren hummed in curiosity as he checked the skill details of each one.
The passive skills all sounded lovely to Darren-- [Precision] increasing accuracy, [Mastery] increasing weapon proficiency growth, and [Fatality] increasing his critical rate. However, passive skills were either minor buffs or conditional, automatic skills.
Darren couldn't see himself getting into a serious fight in the future, so Darren just went and picked one in the DEX Active Skills, favoring the simple skill [Slash].
▬▬▬Skill Details▬▬▬
Slash: Strike at the enemy using an enhanced slash with a high chance to be critical - Requires bladed weapon
Cooldown: 6s
Usage Cost: 10 SP
Costs 1 Skill Point
[Learn]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
"This should be the best choice." Darren muttered out loud, before tapping on [Learn].
"And let's see . . . erm . . ." Darren retrieved his Basic Knife and muttered under his breath the skill name, "Slash."
At the same time, he made a diagonal slash across the air, the knife making a whistling sound as his arm blurred through the air.
"W-Woah." A smile crept into his face as he slowly understood that the slash he just made was something quite special. ". . . This--"
He was cut off when the door to his room opened, making a loud bang as it slammed to the wall after a 90-degree angle. Naphaela held her shortsword in a defensive stance as she scanned the room with ready to kill what she thought was an intruder.
Completely horrified, Darren let out a yelp and stepped back, his grip on his knife getting loose, allowing it to start falling to the floor. And as the knife made a dull thud, then a light clank, Naphaela realized that there was no one else in Darren's room.
"Was that you?" Naphaela didn't loosen her grip on her sword, but she relaxed her stance as she asked Darren.
"W-Was what me?"
"I felt a strange power here earlier . . . was that you?" Naphaela's eyes were full of caution and slight curiosity, and it soon looked down and saw a beautiful knife on the floor. "Is that knife yours?"
"Y-Yeah. The knife is . . . mine."
"And the . . . burst of power. Yours?"
Darren pressed his lips together as he hesitated on telling Naphaela about how he thought he was the one responsible for the 'burst of power.' But how else could he explain it? Scrunching his nose, Darren decided to ask the system first.
'Can I tell her?'
"Affirmative."
Darren let out a sigh of slight relief as his facial expression relaxed, ". . . Yeah. I think at least."
". . . Can you show me?" Naphaela asked, carefully placing the shortsword on the bedside table and closing the door of Darren's room.
'. . . System?'
"The user is permitted to use all system functions and face no consequences, as long as the user does not tell anyone how the system operates."
Darren let out another sigh of relief, before crouching down to grab the knife on the floor. Upon grabbing it, it vanished into thin air as he stashed it into his inventory, making Naphaela's eyes go wide. An object just up and vanished into thin air.
"Y-Yeah, that's one of the . . . things I can do with my own 'cultivation.'"
Motionless, Naphaela blinked a few times as she tried to take what she saw in. Space magic? Transport? Weren't those kinds of magic only usable once a person's reached Rebel-class?
"Anyway, uh . . ." Darren forced a smile, "I'm going to . . . make an attack . . . against the air."
Not minding Darren's strange use of words, Naphaela crossed her arms and nodded, wanting to pay close attention to Darren. She watched the teen take a deep breath before readying a fist in front of him.
"Bash." Darren muttered under his breath, but loud enough for Naphaela to hear. Right after he cast the skill name, he took a step forward and punched at the air.
At the same moment, Naphaela could sense a quick, tiny spike of power in Darren's arm. The spike of power vanished a split-second after Darren's punch ended. Naphaela didn't really know what to say and feel about Darren getting the ability to cultivate, but she was sure of one thing.
"There." Darren took back his fist before looking at Naphaela to nod at her, only to find her stepping towards him quickly. Darren instinctively began to step back, moving along with her, but she eventually caught up to him.
Naphaela grabbed Darren's shoulder and pulled herself into a hug.
"Congratulations, Darren."