The Offering Box reached the ground.
[The 'Offering Box' holy relic is beginning to assert its influence.]
[The 'Offering Box' holy relic calms the wind blowing in the 'Hill of Blowing Wind'.]
[The 'Offering Box' holy relic heals all who are injured.]
[The 'Offering Box' holy relic eliminates all monsters.]
Thanks to the Offering Box's effects, we were out of the woods. The wind disappeared, as did the monsters. All injuries were treated. Naturally, the unconscious Kim Taechun also got up.
"...Dammit. Let my guard down."
He grumbled, but he didn't blatantly seek trouble with Yoohyun. He must have sensed that the atmosphere had changed somehow and wanted to see how the situation proceeded.
'Alright. Then we have to move onto the next part.'
In order to clear this gate, we had to 'satisfy' the 'Offering Box'. Anyone could click the Offering Box, and anyone could read its description.
[Offering Box of the Wind Temple]
A small box for collecting offerings. Those who come to the Temple of Wind must show their sincerity to this Offering Box. When the Offering Box is full, the Blessing of the Wind Temple will be granted.
The same quest was given to everyone who clicked on it.
[Quest: Donate 100k Coins!]
[Quest reward: 'Hill of Blowing Wind' clear]
So basically, the final quest of this place was to donate 100k Coins to the Offering Box. No matter who made the donation, the gate would be cleared. How much someone donated would not be publicized.
In the past, Jo Sunghyun put it like this:
–In the end, we started putting in Coins in order of time of arrival, leaving it to people's consciences. There was no way to check how much each person put in. Still, we thought it was the most reasonable method.
Jo Sunghyun did say that he had dumped all 15,000 Coins he had on him at the time.
'That's why Sunghyun was chosen by the Offering Box.'
He put in 15,000 Coins and was chosen by the Offering Box. In other words, all of the other Players put in less than 15,000 Coins.
'There were probably a lot of people who pretended to donate but didn't.'
On the other hand, the rather naive Jo Sunghyun invested his entire fortune. He might have done so thinking that it was something a person should do, the right thing to do so that everyone could live.
'If it's the same as the past… I just have to donate at least 15,000 Coins.'
Then, I would be chosen by the Offering Box.
The de-facto leader right now, Yoohyun, stated his opinion. "Should we go around and put in as many Coins as each person can handle?"
Everyone shuffled awkwardly. It wasn't surprising. The clear would be achieved even if you didn't put in any Coins and someone else did it instead. Naturally, what ended up happening was that people went up one by one, pretending to put in Coins. I couldn't see anything with Eye of Perception or Observer's Eye.
'I can't see how much they put in.'
It was my turn.
'I…'
I checked how many Coins I had. I had 21,500 Coins left after buying Enhancement Crystals and Element Affinity Powder, but Darongi had earned more Coins in the meantime.
[Held Coins: 31,500]
The theft genius Darongi had stolen again from the promising thief Gu Sungmin. It was a very good development for me.
[Set how many Coins you will offer to the 'Offering Box'.]
[Coins: ______ ]
In the past, Sunghyun was chosen by the Offering Box with 15,000 Coins.
[Coins: 30,000]
[Offer 30,000 Coins?]
There was a second confirmation notice, and I invested 30,000 Coins just like that. After all, the Coins themselves weren't important right now, so I decided to play it a little safer. I would probably be the person who donated the most Coins here.
A few people did yell out that they'd been robbed.
"Huh? My Coins?"
"M-My Coins have disappeared!"
However, they quickly shut up. Making a big fuss about their Coins disappearing in a situation like this was the same thing as saying 'I don't have Coins, so I can't pay'. Even if they were frustrated, they couldn't quite say so. They could only pretend to put Coins in the Offering Box.
Sunghyun also went up to the Offering Box and put in Coins. Not long after that, a notice rang out.
[The Offering Box is full of offerings.]
[The Blessing of the Wind Temple will be granted to the Players who have come here.]
The Offering Box was filled faster than I expected. I put in 30k, and Sunghyun probably put in 15k. Collecting the remaining 55k didn't take as long as I thought.
[Once the rewards calculation of the Flash Gate 'Hill of Blowing Wind' has concluded, all Players will automatically leave the gate.]
The Players rejoiced. With the Ghosts appearing and strong gusts killing the Players, approximately fifteen people died here.
'The victim count is far lower.'
In the past, at least 150 people had died. Compared to that, we experienced 1/10 of the loss. I would just have to see what kind of butterfly effects this result would have in the future.
A yellow [!] appeared over the Offering Box. It was apparently only visible to me. When I clicked it with my eyes, a message popped up.
[The Offering Box has chosen you.]
[You are granted the Offering Box's reward.]
The Offering Box would only reward one person—the Player who donated the most Coins.
[The Offering Box will determine what you most 'need'.]
This was the reward I'd wanted. The System would calculate what I 'needed' and dole out an appropriate reward.
[The Offering Box responds to your 'need'.]
[The Offering Box grants you the special ability 'Cognitive Dissonance'.]
Special ability, Cognitive Dissonance. I'd never heard of it before. There was an immense number of innate abilities and special abilities in the world. Someone might have had this one before, but it wasn't one I had heard of. I checked it right away.
[Cognitive Dissonance]
The special ability granted by the Wind Temple's Offering Box after determining what the Player needed. Cognitive dissonance refers to the phenomenon that occurs when there are discrepancies or inconsistencies with what one believes and actually sees. This ability, which forcefully creates 'dissonance' between what is seen and what is perceived, will be a great help when concealing the Player's abilities, achievements, or crimes. The ability of this 'dissonance' is tied to one's talent, whereby its efficacy and effect are based on the Player's innate talent.
Duration: 30 minutes
Cooldown: 12 hours
Conditions to use:
The will to assist from a Guardian with [Bulwark] [Hallucination] [Illusion] [Defense] [Fortress] [Mountain Fortress] [Barrier] [Eye] [Apparition] in their name.
A body that has awakened an innate ability related to perception.
It was an ability that forcefully created disparity between what one saw with their eyes and what one actually perceived.
'And the use and effect is determined by my talent.'
Since I'd never used it before, I didn't know what exactly that would look like. However, this special ability had conditions for its use.
'The first one's settled.'
I recalled the notice I had heard earlier.
[The 'Barrier of Blue Light' wants to help you.]
[The 'Barrier of Blue Light' states their strong will to sponsor you.]
A Guardian with [Barrier] in their name strongly expressed their desire to help me. So as long as the 'Barrier of Blue Light' didn't retract their will to assist me, I could keep using this ability.
The other condition was satisfied as well.
A body that has awakened an innate ability related to perception.
I satisfied both of the conditions required to use the reward I got. I was happy, but the other Players heard a notice that was a little baffling to them.
[The rewards calculation has concluded.]
People began to murmur.
"Anyone get a reward?"
"I didn't get anything?"
"Did anyone get something?"
I stayed silent. There was no reason for me to step forward. However, notices even I hadn't expected rang out.
[Determining the number of remaining 'pillars'.]
[Calculating a special additional reward.]
Oh, wow.
'The reward is increased if you leave pillars intact?'
In the past, all of the pillars were destroyed. But this time, we only destroyed twelve pillars. There were still six left.
"Huh? Look over there!"
One of the pillars glowed blue and turned to dust, disappearing. The motes of blue light looked like they would be scattered into the air, but then, they began to fly over like a cloud of fireflies.
'It's heading…'
I could tell.
'Towards me.'
This was basically screaming to the whole world, 'GUYS, I GOT THE REWARD!' I couldn't even refuse it. I didn't know how effective it would be, but I decided to use the ability I just got right away.
[Using the special ability Cognitive Dissonance.]
[Cognitive Dissonance is an ability based on the Player's innate talent.]
[The ability to perceive reality is being distorted.]
The way to use it came to me naturally, like a baby knowing how to breathe without being taught.
[Calculating the use/effect/range of Cognitive Dissonance in real time.]
I just automatically made a calculation in my head, drawing out the situation I wanted to see. Just like when I designed my future based on what I knew, I did the same now.
'I'll make a distortion so that… people cannot perceive the sight of me getting the reward.'
I made it so that the Players wouldn't focus on me. It was like looking at trees on the side of the road—unless you concentrated and counted how many trees there were, you wouldn't remember it and just think, "Huh? How many trees were there? Or wait, were there even trees there?"
'This… is Cognitive Dissonance.'
It was a strange feeling, like I was implanting a situation in people's minds the way I wanted. Though temporary, I used this ability to create the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance.
[The duration of Cognitive Dissonance is set to 30 minutes.]
It was fascinating.
'I'm not drawing any attention.'
It was as if people weren't able to mentally process what they were seeing with their eyes. In the end, the blue dust poured onto my head.
[Granting the 'Blessing of the Wind Temple'.]
It was the thing that had been in the description of the Offering Box.
When the Offering Box is full, the Blessing of the Wind Temple will be granted.
In the past, no one got the Blessing because all of the pillars were destroyed. It was different this time.
[5,000 Coins acquired.]
Another pillar became dust and showered down on me.
[5,000 Coins acquired.]
I got 5,000 Coins each from five pillars. This was literally 'winner takes all'. The other Players didn't get a single scrap of rewards, but I'd already gotten 25,000 Coins.
'The last one.'
If I got another 5,000 Coins from the last pillar, that would make 30,000 Coins total, which would mean I broke even. The 6th pillar disappeared, becoming glowing blue dust and falling down on me.
[5,000 Coins acquired.]
From this part alone, I got 30k Coins. However, it didn't even end there.
[Granting the 'Blessing of the Wind Temple'.]
[Confirming that you have 6 Blessings.]
[The Hidden Piece '6 Blessings' has been fulfilled.]
Six Blessings. If at least six pillars were left intact, this Hidden Piece would be fulfilled.
'So there was something like this…!'
What Sunghyun said in the past about how 'it would have been perfect if only about twelve pillars were destroyed' was actually turning into reality. In any case, this was great. The more rewards there were, the better.
[30 minutes left in the duration of Cognitive Dissonance.]
[Dramatically increases your wind-attribute affinity.]
In addition, I got an item.
'What?'
This… could be gotten here?
Venti Body Tome
It was an item, a magic tome, that was discovered less than ten times over ten years. It was the wind version of the 'Vulcan Body Tome' that Choi Sung-gu currently had.
'There should only be about five wind element classes…'
But this tome had already shown up.
'The Vulcan Body Tome is already out, and there's no law that says the Venti Body Tome shouldn't come out, too, but…'
This was an item that enormously amplified the abilities and talent of a 'wind element class', a special artifact that would turn an ordinary guy into a talent, and a talent into a genius.
'If someone who was already specialized in the wind element were to use this… someone like Jo Sunghyun…'
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