–The pillars of the Ruined Temple were a clue for the clear.
The pillars could be destroyed. Every time these special pillars were destroyed, the field would change a little. Those changes weren't limited to gusts of wind or monsters being spawned.
'Inside the pillars, there should be two randomly generated clear-necessary items…"
So how… did they end up in Darongi's Inventory? The cheeky squirrel was staring at me, [!!!] and [♪♪♪] marks alternating over his head.
"You…"
Darongi huffed from his nose, as if to shout, "State a trade condition that'll satisfy me, Master!"
"One Fruit Bundle, plus ten minutes of belly tickling."
Darongi wavered for a moment.
[!!!]
He really liked having his belly tickled. "But hmph, that's not enough for me! I'm the one who impressed the Merchant of Venice," he seemed to say with his eyes. I laid down an even better trade condition.
"I'll also pet your head."
[!!!]
Darongi continued to huff, wavering on the fence.
"Fifteen minutes."
In the end, Darongi opened his heart to me, apparently accepting my trade conditions.
[Darongi accepts the trade.]
[You can now access his Inventory.]
I opened Darongi's Inventory. Inside were two items.
[Wind Shoes 1/2]
Shoes imbued with the blessing of wind. Dramatically increases one's affinity with the wind element, bestowing a synergistic effect when using wind attribute foot techniques or movement skills. However, a full pair of two shoes must be worn for that function to apply.
Attribute: Wind
Grade: Rare
Level Restriction: 25
Equip Restriction: Wind-attribute class
The other item was of course 'Wind Shoes 2/2', meaning Darongi had a full pair. He had somehow managed to snag both shoes.
'Just where the heck did you get these?'
As if he read my mind, Darongi opened his mouth wide—though it was still tiny—and showed off his front teeth.
'Did you gnaw a hole into the pillars to get them?'
Darongi puffed out his chest and beat his cotton-ball fist into his chest with pride.
[☆★☆★]
A strange set of marks appeared over his head, which I interpreted to roughly mean, "I'm this awesome, see?" This fellow sure was full of amusing surprises.
'The future has changed once again.'
Everywhere I went, history changed. In the past, the Players here were unable to show a united front. The reason was simple; it was because this item was divided into two parts.
'Two different Players got one part each of this item.'
One was picked up by Jo Sunghyun, and the other was picked up by some other Player. As the description made clear, this item would only work if it was worn as a united pair.
'After many twists and turns, Sunghyun finally managed to get both parts, but the process took quite a long time.'
It was a rare grade item. If I'd been one of the people to get a part of this item in the past, even I might have found it difficult to hand it over to Sunghyun.
Sunghyun said this:
–In the meantime, many more Players died. Things might have been different if we'd had an outstanding leader at the time, but… it was still too early back then.
Did that mean I was an outstanding leader, then?
'I'm not too sure about that.'
At the very least, I knew what I had to do right now. What I did now would determine the number of survivors from this field and the rewards we would reap at the end.
[The 'Nameless Observer' continues to observe.]
[The 'Lady of the Scales' wonders how you will act.]
[The 'Merchant of Venice' is curious about the details of the exchange.]
[The 'Whispering Devil' would like to see a slightly more exciting scene.]
As always, the Guardians were watching us. They also seemed curious as to what I would do.
'Okay.'
Currently, the wind was blowing hard. I laid flat on the ground.
"Senia. You didn't forget your bet with me, right?"
"...I have not."
After saying that, Senia's mouth moved silently. I couldn't hear what she was saying, so she was probably giving the Guardians some background info, like what kind of bet we made and how I won, which entitled me to a one-time opening of the 'intermediate-grade' Item Shop.
"Open it for me now."
"I will open the Item Shop for you. However, I can only do it one time."
"I know."
Senia was implicitly asking me if I was really going to open the store in such an unsafe place. It would be best to make the most out of the opportunity and peruse the shop in a peaceful place. In all actuality, that was indeed the better call. However, this was no ordinary situation.
[The 'Intermediate-grade' Item Shop is being opened.]
[It has not been opened through legitimate means.]
[As a penalty, the price of all goods within the 'Intermediate-grade' Item Shop will be multiplied by 10.]
It felt like someone whacked me in the head with a hammer.
'10x?'
I expected some sort of penalty to apply, since this wasn't just jumping from the Tutorial to the Beginner Item Shop, but from the Beginner to the Intermediate Shop. I did think there would be a side effect…
'But 10x?'
This was a total, fucking rip-off.
'Dammit.'
However, I had no other choice but to think of this as an investment for the future.
'Enhancement category.'
[Item Shop - Intermediate-grade - Enhancement]
Low Enhancement Crystal 2,000 Coins → 20,000 Coins
Medium Enhancement Crystal 3,000 Coins → 30,000 Coins
Element Affinity Powder 1,000 Coins → 10,000 Coins
For a moment, I was speechless.
'One Low Enhancement Crystal costs 20k. An Element Affinity Powder costs 10k.'
Enhancing the 'Wind Shoes' I effortlessly snagged thanks to Darongi required two Enhancement Crystals and one Element Affinity Powder.
'50k Coins…?'
I hesitated for a moment. Currently, I only had 47,000 Coins.
'If I hadn't encountered the promising thief guy… this strategy would have been far out of my reach.'
I had to acknowledge this as my mistake. As expected, the System wasn't as easy to navigate as I hoped. This time, I was able to scrape by thanks to fate and luck. It was merely a so-called 'curious coincidence'.
'There's no guarantee that I'll continue to have this kind of luck.'
That meant I had to plan while thinking of the slightly worse scenarios, as well as the worst-case scenarios. My mistake turned into a learning experience.
'But I'm still 3,000 Coins short.'
What method would allow me to get 3,000k Coins right now? I could call everyone and get Coins from them, but that didn't seem all that easy. They were all focused on faithfully carrying out their roles. They were destroying pillars, hunting Ghosts, and staying on their toes for any Devil Wraiths that might appear. The others didn't have any time to spare, either.
'I need at least 50,000 Coins.'
Just then, my Eye of Perception sensed something.
The promising thief, Gu Sungmin, was enraged when he found out that all of his Coins had vanished. He realized that there was a thief out there with more outstanding skills than his own.
'I can't go back like this!'
He felt too wronged to go back empty-handed. It was fine for him to steal, but getting stolen from was unforgivable.
'Just who the hell was it?!'
He had no idea, but it was fine. Wanting to make up for his losses, he went up to the 12th floor. There had to be a lot of Players there, after all. He was determined to undertake the slight risk and empty all their pockets.
But it really wasn't his day, and he suddenly ended up in a flash gate called the 'Hill of Blowing Wind'.
'Fine, this is better anyway!'
Using the chaos to his advantage, it was a very good opportunity for him to steal coins while pretending to break pillars.
[Coins acquired.]
[+1,600 Coins]
Darn, a paltry 1,600 Coins? These Players were supposed to be famous and all, but they were all broke as hell.
[Coins acquired.]
[+900 Coins.]
Regardless, he was raking the Coins in. While the Players had their full attention on raiding the gate, he worked hard to steal Coins.
[Held Coins: 19,200 Coins]
Sungmin got flat on the ground. As long as he did as So Yoohyun said, there wasn't any risk of death, for the time being. A few super speedy Players were also fighting those terrifying monsters called Ghosts for them. All he had to do was to keep pretending he was breaking pillars while leeching Coins.
'What if they can't buy potions because of me?'
Potions were crucial in raids. It was no exaggeration to call a potion a second life.
'Ah fuck, whatever. That's none of my concern, is it?'
His precious, precious money was more important right now. Other guys hitting the bucket was actually no concern of his, was it? That was just their luck.
[Coins acquired.]
[+4,300 Coins]
That should bring his total count to 23,500 Coins. Feeling proud, he went to check his Coins.
[Held Coins: 0 Coin]
Gu Sungmin was floored. He accidently ended up shouting in rage.
"Dammitttt, what the fuck?!"
That number should be 23,500, so WHY?! How?! Why was it 0? Fuming, he looked around.
[Using the innate ability Wallet Perception.]
One of these fuckers definitely stole his money. He would have his revenge! …Or, that's what he thought, but not a single person had a lot of Coins. It was like something out of the twilight zone.
While Gu Sungmin wasn't watching, a piece of history was unfolding in one part of the field.
* * *
[!!!]
I clicked on Darongi's status, and an explanation window popped up.
[This is a goodwill present given to Master.]
[Intoxicated by his own greatness, Darongi is in a very good mood.]
The present Darongi gave me because he was in a good mood was…
[23,500 Coins acquired.]
[Held Coins: 71,500 Coins]
Even I was a little flabbergasted. I got a whopping 71,500 Coins without lifting a finger. The System imposed a huge penalty on the Intermediate-grade Item Shop for opening it through less than legitimate means, but I was able to somehow jump straight over the hurdle. This genius squirrel did it again.
[Low Enhancement Crystal purchased.]
[-20,000 Coins]
[Low Enhancement Crystal purchased.]
[-20,000 Coins]
[Element Affinity Powder purchased.]
[-10,000 Coins]
My insides were twisting and churning, but this was an investment, an investment. I didn't spend a long time agonizing about it. I had to move things along quickly.
"Senia. Starting now, I'm going to do item enhancement."
Enhancement was content that Guardians liked to watch. There were definitely Guardians who went wild for this kind of stuff.
[The 'Barrier of Blue Light' has established a temporary Safe Zone around you.]
I had heard a notice from this Guardian once in the past, saying that the Barrier of Blue Light was paying attention to me. Afterwards, I didn't get any more notices, so I forgot about them.
'The Barrier of Blue Light… was still watching Senia's channel, huh.'
In any case, I was thankful. Now, I could fully focus on the enhancement.
[Enhancing Wind Shoes.]
[2 Enhancement Crystals and 1 pouch of Element Affinity Powder are required for the enhancement.]
[The success rate will be determined by the Player's talent and competence.]
Every Player said that enhancement was one field where talent was king. In other things, you could somehow fudge the rates to at least average with effort, but not in enhancement. It was all down to RNG and talent, as well as money.
[Calculating the +1 enhancement success rate.]
The notices continued.
'Wha…?'
____